Shares in Bayer fell as much as 5% on Tuesday after a jury awarded more than $2 billion to a California couple in the
largest U.S. jury verdict against the company over allegations its Roundup weed killer causes cancer.
That put the stock on course to
close at its lowest level in almost seven years, even though the punitive damages award is likely to be reduced due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings that limit the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages to 9:1.
The jury set the total punitive damages at $2 billion and added $55 million in compensatory pay, concluding that Roundup - based on herbicide glyphosate - had been defectively designed, and that the
company failed to warn of the herbicide's alleged cancer risk.
The shares were down 2.5% at 55.05 euros at 0905 GMT.
Bayer said in a statement on Monday that it was disappointed with the verdict and would appeal. A spokesman called the jury's decision "excessive and unjustifiable".
It was the
third consecutive U.S. jury verdict against the company in litigation over the chemical, which Bayer acquired as part of its $63 billion purchase of Monsanto last year.
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