United States District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco rejected a $2 billion Roundup offer this week saying said the proposal "would accomplish a lot for Monsanto," which Bayer acquired for $63 billion in 2018, and "would accomplish far less for the Roundup users" who are currently healthy.
It comes a week after the judge asked questions about the proposal, indicating that it fell short of his expectations.
The agreement would have paused litigation linking Roundup to non-Hodgkin lymphoma for four years and would have barred Roundup users from seeking punitive damages once the pause on litigation expired.
In return, users could be eligible for free medical exams and compensation if they were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The proposed class action settlement was aimed at claims by people who have been exposed to the weedkiller and who become sick in the future.
Bayer has committed up to $9.6 billion to resolve some 125,000 existing cancer claims.
The plan would have grouped potentially millions of residential users and farm laborers in a class and provided them free medical exams for four years and up to $200,000 if they were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Chhabria's six-page order cast doubt on the value of the medical exam offer, given the 10-year to 15-year lag time between exposure and potential onset of cancer symptoms.
He also said most claimants could expect $60,000 or less in compensation and that compensation might not be available after the four-year plan expired.
