A federal judge in California has once again turned down an effort to settle potential future cancer claims against Bayer’s Monsanto over it’s Roundup weed killer.

Judge Vince Chhabria rejected the settlement, dealing a major blow to Bayer Monsanto and to those class action attorneys who initiated the proposal, led by Elizabeth Cabraser and Sam Issacharoff.

“The settlement proposed by these attorneys would accomplish a lot for Monsanto,” Judge Chhabria wrote. “It would substantially diminish the company’s settlement exposure and litigation exposure at the back end, eliminating punitive damages and potentially increasing its chances of winning trials on compensatory damages. It would accomplish far less for the Roundup users who have not been diagnosed with NHL – and not nearly as much as the attorneys pushing this deal contend.” 

The people covered by the proposed settlement were divided into two groups – a group consisting of Roundup users who have been diagnosed with Non Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)