A Superior Court Judge in San Francisco, California upheld a jury’s verdict that Monsanto, the maker of the weed killed Roundup, caused a groundskeeper’s cancer. However, the judge significantly reduced the punitive damages to be paid by the company to the cancer patient.

In August, a jury awarded $289 million to Dewayne Johnson, a former groundskeeper suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The award included $250 million in punitive damages and $39 million in compensatory damages.

Monsanto requested the judge to overturn the jury’s decision or order a new trial on the punitive damages.

Earlier this month, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bolanos indicated in her tentative ruling that Johnson’s lawyers did not present compelling evidence that any Monsanto employee knew that Roundup causes cancer.

According to Bolanos, the plaintiff’s lawyers "presented no clear and convincing evidence of malice or oppression to support an award of punitive damages." In other words, she was considering of wiping the entire $250 million punitive award.

Judge enforces due process limits on arbitrary awards

In her final ruling on Monday, the judge reversed her course. Instead of wiping the entire punitive award, she reduced it to $39 million. She explained that the punitive award was too high. It must match the compensatory award.

She wrote, "In enforcing due process limits, the court does not sit as a replacement for the jury but only as a check on arbitrary awards. The punitive damages award must be constitutionally reduced to the maximum allowed by due process in this case -- $39,253,209.35 -- equal to the amount of compensatory damages awarded by the jury based on its findings of harm to the plaintiff."

In a statement, Johnson’s lawyers said they are reviewing the judge’s decision whether to accept it or retry the punitive damages portion. If Johnson accepts the reduced punitive award, the judge will order Monsanto to pay a total of $78 million.

“A step in the right direction”

Bayer, the company that recently acquired Monsanto, issued a statement regarding the judge’s decision.

It said, "The Court's decision to reduce the punitive damage award by more than $200 million is a step in the right direction. We continue to believe that the liability verdict and damage awards are not supported by the evidence at trial or the law and plan to file an appeal with the California Court of Appeal."