By Dietrich Knauth

June 24 (Reuters) - A Missouri state court judge may postpone an upcoming hearing on Bayer's proposed $7.25 billion settlement of lawsuits alleging that the company's Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, potentially slowing down a fast-track schedule for the deal's approval set by the court in March.

Judge Timothy Boyer ​in St. Louis, who granted preliminary approval to the settlement in March, had been set to consider final approval of ​the deal on ⁠July 9. But Boyer said late Tuesday that "it may be in the best interest of the case to delay the final approval hearing," after a dispute over whether the settlement should be reviewed in federal court or Missouri state court.

Representatives for Bayer and plaintiffs' lawyers who support the deal did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An attorney for plaintiffs who oppose the settlement declined to comment.

The German drugmaking and crop science company is facing approximately 65,000 claims in U.S. state and federal courts from plaintiffs who say they developed non-Hodgkin ​lymphoma and other forms of cancer after using Roundup at home or on the job. Bayer, which acquired Roundup when it purchased Monsanto ​in 2018, has said that decades of studies have shown Roundup's key ingredient glyphosate is safe, and does not ⁠cause cancer.

Bayer and the plaintiffs who support the settlement want to finalize the deal through a new class-action case filed in Boyer's court in February, but plaintiffs who oppose the settlement have argued that the settlement must be reviewed in federal court, where it would likely be overseen by a federal judge who has already criticized the proposed deal.

The objecting plaintiffs briefly transferred the new class action to federal court for about a month, but the judge assigned to the case remanded it to state court last week before it could be consolidated with other federal cases over Roundup allegations. The objecting plaintiffs have appealed the remand order and are fighting to keep the case in federal court. Bayer has moved to dismiss that appeal.

Boyer said the "delay caused by the federal proceedings" likely meant that his court would delay the approval hearing, and he asked participants in the case to weigh-in by the end of the week. Boyer said he may call a further status conference or make a ruling on the schedule after Friday.

Plaintiffs were given a June 4 deadline to decide whether they would opt out of the class-action settlement.

Dozens of people have objected to the settlement, saying that the deal is unfair to cancer victims and that the state court cannot impose its terms on people in other states or on people who might develop cancer in the future. Attorneys who oppose the deal said that they would file more objections before the settlement approval hearing.

The case is King v. Monsanto, City of St. Louis Circuit Court, No. 2622-CC00325.

For ​the objecting plaintiffs: Ashley Keller of Keller Postman LLC and R. Prescott Sifton of Frazer PLC

For Bayer: Elaine Golin, Jeffrey Wintner ​and Carrie Reilly of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz; Daniel Nelson and Derek Kraft of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP; James Bennet of Dowd Bennett

Class counsel: Seeger Weiss; t; Williams Hart & Boundas; Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel; The Holland Law Firm; Ketchmark & McCreight.

Read more:

Bayer ​proposes $7.25 billion plan to settle Roundup cancer cases

US Supreme Court split over Bayer's fight against Roundup lawsuits

Federal judge criticizes proposed $7.25 billion Roundup settlement

Federal judge sends Bayer's $7.25 billion Roundup settlement back to Missouri state court