It will take all six jurors to answer yes to that question in order for the trial to continue. If the jurors are split in how they answer the question, the judge has said he would declare a mistrial.
The judge guided the jurors in how to consider that question and how to evaluate the evidence presented to them in a 17-page list of instructions.
The jurors are allowed to request to look at specific exhibits and pieces of evidence but they are not allowed to see transcripts of the previous days of testimony. The judge said that if jurors want to review the testimony of a particular witness they can ask to have that witness's testimony, or a portion of that witness's testimony, read back to them but the lawyers and judge would need to be present for that.
If jurors return a verdict in favor of Hardeman on Wednesday afternoon, opening statements for phase two will take place Friday.
Chhabria kept a tight rein on closing arguments Tuesday, prohibiting Hardeman's lead attorney Aimee Wagstaff from showing a photo of Hardeman and his wife in her closing slide presentation. He told Wagstaff that the photo was "not relevant" and said that he did not "need to hear further argument about that." When she asked for his rationale, Chhabria simply repeated his belief that it was not relevant.
Monsanto filed a motion for a directed verdict on Tuesday, arguing that Hardeman has presented "insufficient general causation evidence," and specifically attacked the credibility of pathologist Dennis Weisenburger, one of Hardeman's expert witnesses. Judge Chhabria denied the motion.
Separately, the upcoming Pilliod V. Monsanto case in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland was looking at a sizable jury pool of more than 200 people. They plan to select 17, with 12 jurors and five alternates. The case may not begin until March 27 or March 28 due to the lengthy jury selection process.
March 12, 2019 Concerns over Judge's Jury Instructions
(UPDATE, 3 p.m. Pacific Time Closing arguments are completed. The jury has received instructions for deliberations.)
Closing arguments got underway Tuesday. With the first phase of Hardeman V. Monsanto winding down plaintiff Edwin Hardeman's attorneys issued a strong objection to Judge Vince Chhabria's plans for instructing the jury about how to consider the issue of causation.
The way Chhabria worded his instructions makes it "impossible" for Hardeman to prevail, attorney Jennifer Moore wrote in a letter to the judge. California law sets for instructions that causation is determined when a substance or action is a "substantial factor" in causing an outcome. But the judge's instructions would require jurors to find that Roundup was the sole factor that caused Hardeman's non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Moore argued.
Judge Chhabria replied by saying he could not give "the standard California multiple causation instruction" because plaintiff's attorneys failed to present evidence that Hardeman's cancer was due to multiple factors. He did say, however, that he could modify the instructions slightly to try to address the concerns. In the final instruction Chhabria added wording that said a substantial factor "does not have to be the only cause of the harm."
Monsanto has argued that Hardeman's cancer is not due to exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides but more likely due to the hepatitis C Hardeman had for many years.
March 11, 2019
Monsanto's legal team on Monday presented testimony from Dr. Alexandra Levine, a hematologist/oncologist with City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, seeking to convince the jury that exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides was not a cause of Hardeman's cancer, and that a more likely factor is the hepatitis C Hardeman had for many years. Levine testified that she has seen "many, many,thousands of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma," and she is in fact considered a specialist in that specific disease.
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