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It's no secret that the US is a litigious society. And lawyers that bring compensation cases against big companies are often derided as ambulance chasers. But they're now proving themselves among the best eco-warriors in the US.
One example includes US trial attorneys' attack on Bayer, the German company desperately trying to rid itself of years of costly litigation associated with glyphosate, the main ingredient in weed killer Roundup. The company insists that Roundup is safe and does not cause cancer. But the trial attorneys have won expensive courtroom battles against Bayer over Roundup's safety.
Bayer has set aside $6.4bn for future Roundup litigation costs. And the company's share price has been pummelled by the uncertainty over these claims. Surprisingly, in part of the Bayer case, the trial attorneys have actually been acting on behalf of allegedly injured parties against the US Environmental Protection Agency, accusing the EPA of approving pesticide labels that didn't adequately state the product's safety risks.
For years, the EPA'S Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, which regulates chemicals, has been dogged by allegations of an overly cosy relationship with chemicals companies. And whistleblowers have even accused high-ranking EPA officials of altering and even deleting findings of risk to human health and the environment. EPA management often bounced between the organisation and highly paid private-sector industry jobs.
But across the industry the lawyers aren't slowing down their attacks. In addition to Bayer, plaintiffs' lawyers are preparing for courtroom fights with chemical companies Chevron, Syngenta, and ChemChina over the herbicide paraquat. Plaintiffs' lawyers spent $440,000 on advertisements in June, up from $74,000 in May, according to X Ante, a company that tracks litigation advert spending. These ads are crucial to the plaintiffs' lawyers strategy. They need victims to win big settlements.
In the agriculture sector specifically, the plaintiffs' court fights have changed corporate behaviour in ways that regulators cannot. For example, amid mounting litigation costs US conglomerate 3M in December said it would stop making forever chemicals, which can remain in people's bodies for a lifetime, by the end of 2025.
Ultimately, environmental regulators play the central part in writing and enforcing rules for chemicals. But long-derided plaintiffs' lawyers seem to be playing an increasingly important supporting role.
