BASF, Bayer win $190 million reduction in punitive damages in dicamba case

A federal judge in Missouri has reduced by $190 million the punitive damages BASF and Bayer must pay a peach farmer. Bill Bader sued BASF and Monsanto in 2016, saying the firms encouraged neighboring farmers to overspray the pesticide dicamba and that the resulting drift damaged his trees. Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018. A jury awarded Bader $250 million in punitive damages and $15 million in actual damages in February 2020. BASF argued that the punitive damages were unconstitutionally severe and asked that they be reduced to $15 million. Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. found that precedent supports a 4:1 ratio and lowered them to $60 million.