How to Protect Your Business from a “Round Up” of Legal Trouble

No business owner ever wants to get lawyers
involved, but sometimes, it’s necessary. Often, legal aid comes into play when
it’s a matter of protecting the rights of consumers. And, when a company
negligently advertises a product as safe and it turns out to be linked to
cancer, it is imperative that victims fight for compensation.

Sound familiar? If you’ve been keeping up with the latest class action suits, you’ll know that the company in the headlines is Monsanto. Monsanto is the largest agricultural and genetically modified organism company, and they have recently come out of a lawsuit with a verdict of more than $2 billion in damages. Over 13,000 lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto due to the carcinogenic ingredients in their weed killer brand Roundup, which has led to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

If you’re concerned about protecting your
business from lawsuits that could potentially tank your company, take a lesson
from Monsanto. Here’s everything they did wrong and everything you should
avoid:  

Monsanto’s
Neglect

During the peak of the 1970s, Monsanto was
a booming company that was an inspiration for businesses everywhere. Their
claim to fame was helping crops grow anywhere, even in places affected by
droughts.

When they developed these growing techniques,
they noticed that weeds grew with the produce. Thus, herbicides were born.

Monsanto developed and secured a patent for
glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup. This ingredient targets certain
strains of plants that are considered invasive and kills them, without harming
the produce-bearing plants.

Even though their chemical worked,
Glyphosate went under investigation for many years due to major health risks.
Monsanto willingly ignored these warnings and continued to market Roundup as
the go-to weed killer for farms and houses alike. Their neglect would come at
great costs, both to the company and to people’s lives.

The
World Condemns   

The world quickly came to condemn the use
of glyphosate. In 2015, the World Health Organization voted to take a stance
condemning Roundup. They declared that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to
humans and animals. This declaration was the first ever declaration by an
international organization like the WHO.

However, the EPA continued to claim that
the ingredient is not a carcinogen and was safe to use on a variety of produce.
The public was slow to react to this news. Once the news officially broke, people
had become so used to Roundup that it took time for consumers to ditch the
product altogether.

The
Suit

Despite the new research condemning Monsanto and the many claims against the company, it became obvious through their marketing tactics that they were not backing down. They had a monopoly on a market, and it was impossible for them to admit to the public that their products are dangerous. They knew they would lose cash.

Attorneys started filing class action suits
on behalf of the 13,000 cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and the courts quickly
realized how negligent that Monsanto had been. While the first initial verdict
had a ruling of $289 million dollars, this was eventually lowered to a
painstakingly minimal amount of $78 million.

Once the first case was settled however,
more people began to realize they could receive compensation for the many
medical conditions brought on by their use of roundup.

The
Verdict

When a major company ignores health
concerns for profit, it becomes extremely difficult for the damages that they
caused to be reversed.

However, a $2-billion-dollar verdict was
ordered to begin restitution for the hundreds of thousands of people affected
but the blatant negligence of this company. While Bayer, the company that owns
Monsanto, claimed they had great sympathy for the affected, their lack of responsibility
after the verdict shows they are without remorse.

The verdict against Monsanto offers an
important lesson for business owners anywhere. No amount of profit is worth the
health risks and lives of thousands of people. If you use chemicals in any of
your products, make sure it’s researched and vetted before you begin marketing
it to your customers. It’ll save you a whole slew of legal cases and money in
the long run.

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