A California judge cut a $2 billion jury verdict against Bayer-owned Monsanto over its Roundup weed killer to $86.7 million. Bayer faces some 13,000 US lawsuits over the glyphosate-based product’s potential health risks.

A California judge on Thursday slashed a massive $2 billion (€1.8 billion) jury verdict against Bayer-owned Monsanto to $86.7 million, saying the award to a couple who claimed the agribusiness giant’s Roundup weed killer caused their cancer was excessive and unconstitutional.

Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith of the California Superior Court in Oakland said the plaintiffs, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, would receive around $17 million in compensatory damages and $69 million in punitive damages. That is down from $55 million and $2 billion, respectively.

The couple has to formally accept the new compensation. If the parties fail to agree the case would go to a retrial.

A state court jury in Oakland in May found that the Pilliods’ use of the glyphosate-based herbicide for over 30 years at their home and other properties caused them to contract non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.