Monsanto Co. is seeking a pause in Delaware litigation involving its Roundup brand herbicides, saying that a California judge should decide whether the company’s quick removal of personal injury suits from state to federal court circumvented a statute that protects plaintiffs’ choice of forum.
The St. Louis-based agrochemical company on June 14 asked U.S. District Judge Richard G. Andrews of the District of Delaware to grant a temporary stay in two cases brought by plaintiffs who claimed that contact with Roundup had caused them to develop cancer. The stay, Monsanto said, would allow the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to determine whether the Delaware cases should be included with a slew of similar cases in multidistrict litigation that has been consolidated in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.
