Bayer AG failed to persuade a California appeals court to overturn a verdict favoring a school groundskeeper who claimed its Roundup weed killer caused his cancer but reduced the amount of damages by 74% to $20.5 million.

The decision by the California Court of Appeal came after a San Francisco jury had in August 2018 awarded $289.2 million to the plaintiff Dewayne Johnson for his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a sum later cut by the trial judge to $78.5 million.

Johnson’s case is separate from Bayer’s agreement on June 24 to pay up to $10.9 billion to settle nearly 100,000 lawsuits in the United States linking glyphosate-based Roundup to cancer.

If upheld, the verdict and payout could make it harder for Bayer to resolve lawsuits by other plaintiffs.

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