In a California court case ruling on Monday August 13, Monsanto Co., the pesticide company that produces RoundUp, was ordered to pay $289.2 million in punitive and compensatory damages to Dewayne "Lee" Johnson, 46.

Johnson had worked as a groundskeeper for a San Francisco school district and brought the case against Monsanto because he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after heavily using RoundUp and Ranger PRO to fulfill his job duties.

The Wall Street Journal reports that this case is the first of many that could go to trial because there are "5,200 plaintiffs who say they have been injured by glyphosate-based products."

In a statement to the press, Monsanto's vice president, Scott Partridge, said, "There are over 800 scientific, medical, peer-reviewed, published studies that demonstrate glyphosate is safe." Furthermore, a company representative expressed sympathy for Johnson however explicitly stated that they would "vigorously" repeal the court's decision.

In another statement to the press, Brent Wisner, Johnson's lawyer, explains how the case was won; "We were finally able to show the jury the secret, internal Monsanto documents proving that Monsanto has known for decades that ... Roundup could cause cancer."