A court-appointed mediator on [Nov, 9] said Bayer AG has made “substantial progress” toward resolving tens of thousands of remaining claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

The mediator Kenneth Feinberg spoke at a Zoom hearing in San Francisco federal court, where a judge still oversees nearly 2,000 unresolved cases over glyphosate-based Roundup, which Bayer acquired with its purchase of Monsanto. Other cases are in state courts.

“We’re not there yet but we are certainly making substantial progress,” said Feinberg, who oversaw compensation programs for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. “It’s just a question of when and how quickly they’ll get resolved.”

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria had previously paused the federal litigation and given Bayer until Nov. 2 to settle.

Bayer has said 1,861 of the 3,787 plaintiffs in that litigation had not settled. Chhabria did not extend the stay, meaning some cases could move toward trials.

“I’m not interested in having such an elongated schedule for the adjudication of these cases,” he said.

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