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Leverkusen / San Francisco (dpa) - Bayer hopes, after much back and forth, to have found a solution for dealing with future US lawsuits due to alleged cancer risks of the weed killer glyphosate.
The pharmaceutical and agrochemical company announced on Wednesday evening in Leverkusen that a corresponding formal agreement had been reached with the plaintiff's lawyers, which also included a commitment of up to two billion US dollars.
Bayer had set aside the money for this last year.
The plaintiffs' attorneys have now submitted an application for provisional approval to the responsible federal judge Vince Chhabria, it said.
Numerous procedures are bundled with him.
Bayer had actually announced a large-scale settlement in the glyphosate case last summer.
Chhabria had bothered about handling possible future cases.
Bayer therefore had to renegotiate.
If the judge approves the new proposals of the parties to the dispute, that would be important for the conclusion of the entire settlement package.
That would then cost the company around 11.6 billion dollars (almost 10 billion euros), including up to 9.6 billion dollars for existing lawsuits.
According to the information, elements of the agreement are a fund, from which future plaintiffs in question will initially receive compensation payments over the next four years, and a scientific advisory body, whose findings would not be legally binding, but will be used as evidence in future court proceedings with plaintiffs in this group can.
In addition, there is a comprehensive program to notify future plaintiffs of the settlement.
The deal also includes research and diagnostic programs that were already part of the original agreement.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210203-99-290494 / 2