Updates to add objectors' effort to move case to federal court in parargraphs 1-2, 10-12

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - Bayer's proposed $7.25 billion Roundup settlement is facing its first formal objections, after attorneys for 13 cancer patients asked a Missouri state court not to approve the deal and said the settlement dispute should be moved to federal court.

The objectors filed a notice of removal Friday in Missouri federal court, arguing the case belongs there rather than in state court. They had lodged objections to the proposed deal in state court on Thursday, calling it the product of "collusion" between Bayer and class action lawyers who stand to receive $675 million in attorneys' fees.

The settlement, proposed in February, seeks to resolve nearly all lawsuits alleging that the company's widely used weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, through a new class action filed in Missouri state court. Judge Timothy Boyer granted preliminary approval in March and is set to consider final approval of the deal in early July.

Bayer is facing approximately 65,000 claims in U.S. state and federal courts from plaintiffs who have said they developed non-Hodgkin ​lymphoma and other forms of cancer after using Roundup at home or on the job. The German drugmaking and crop science company, 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.

Chris Seeger, one of the class action lawyers who negotiated the deal, said the settlement would guarantee compensation at a time when a pending Supreme Court ruling could threaten cancer victims' ability to be paid for their legal claims.

"We welcome the opportunity to answer these objections at the July 9 final fairness hearing and remain confident in this agreement, which is backed by firms representing the vast majority of Roundup claimants,” Seeger said.

A spokesman for Bayer's Monsanto unit said the removal notice has no merit, as the class is properly before a Missouri state court where the overwhelming majority of claims have been filed, and that the company remains confident that the settlement will be approved.

The current level of support for the deal is unclear, but other objections are likely to come before the settlement's June 4 opt-out deadline. Robin Greenwald of Weitz & Luxenberg said on Friday that her firm, which represents about 2,000 Roundup clients, intends to file objections for many of those clients.

The objecting plaintiffs in Thursday's filings criticized several aspects of the settlement, saying that the Missouri state court does not have the power to bind citizens of other U.S. states and that Bayer's "draconian" procedures for opting out of the settlement are designed to trap people who wish to pursue their lawsuits in court.

Friday's removal notice is unusual because federal rules generally allow defendants, not plaintiffs, to move cases to federal court. But the objectors argue they are, in effect, the real defendants, because Bayer and the class action lawyers are working together on a settlement that would restrict their legal rights.

"This class action was filed not to litigate active claims but to launder a liability-management scheme through the courts," the objectors wrote. "If the Objector Defendants aren't defendants, then this case is the Named Plaintiffs and Monsanto versus nobody."

Seeger called the removal request a "baseless delay tactic that should be promptly denied."

In their filings, the objectors cited comments made by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who is overseeing thousands of Roundup lawsuits that have been consolidated in federal court.

At an April court hearing, Chhabria said he had "grave concerns" about the legality of the state court settlement and the process by which it was brought to a state court judge for fast-track approval.

While some law firms have opposed the settlement, many law firms with large numbers of Roundup clients have signaled support for the deal. Bayer is looking for finality in the settlement, and it has said it needs to get buy-in from nearly all of the current plaintiffs before proceeding with the deal.

Bayer ⁠has continued ​to be dogged by Roundup lawsuits after paying about $10 billion in 2020 to settle most of ​the Roundup lawsuits then pending.

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

The federal removal case is King v. Boylan et al, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, No. 26-cv-00813

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; Motley Rice; 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

Bayer's $7.25 billion Roundup settlement gets initial OK from Missouri judge