The Charentais operator, who had accidentally inhaled the vapors of a pesticide, had attacked the American firm. Between calls and appeals, it will have taken many years for justice to fix the amount of compensation.
by Stéphane Mandard and Stéphane Foucart
This is a new and perhaps ultimate victory in her trying fight against Monsanto, but she has a bitter taste. In a judgment rendered on November 7 and that MO12345lemonde was able to consult, the Lyon court sentenced the German giant of the Bayer agrochemistry – who bought Monsanto in 2018 – to pay to the farmer Paul François the sum of 11,12 euros . “Admittedly, for the first time, French justice condemns a manufacturer of pesticides for having poisoned a farmer, but 11,135 euros for fifteen years of life put in parentheses, sleepless nights, I might have better This time to take advantage of playing lotto! “Reacts Paul François.
Tired, sick, the farmer, now 58 years old, expected “a fair repair” to, finally, “turn the page”. The ace. Thursday, December 8, with several associations for the defense of the environment and health and European deputies, he was preparing for a new mobilization before the representation of Bayer in Brussels to claim the “end of impunity”.
Interminable showdown
The story of Paul François has already been told. She even inspired a television series, influence games, broadcast on Arte. On April 27, 2004, the Charentais farmer severely enacted by accidentally inhaling the vapors of a pesticide while he inspected the tank of his sprayer, which he thought empty.
Marketed by the American firm, the Lasso herbicide will be prohibited three years later, in 2007, because of its carcinogenic potential. That year, Paul François attacks Monsanto in justice. The beginning of an interminable showdown in front of the courts and an equally long ordeal: repeated hospitalizations, comas, discomfort, acute headache, amnesia, dizziness, stuttering, anxiety …
In 2012, justice recognized Monsanto “responsible for damage” suffered by Paul François and condemns the firm to “compensate” the farmer. But between the calls and the appetizers in Cassation of Monsanto then Bayer – who disputes until the farmer’s poisoning -, it will therefore have taken ten years for justice to fix the amount of compensation.
“It is a satisfaction insofar as this judgment is the sixth court decision to retain the responsibility of Monsanto, comments François Lafforgue, the lawyer who has accompanied Paul François in his fight for fifteen years. But the amount of Compensation is not at all up to the damage suffered. “
Under physical and moral suffering and professional losses linked to his inability to work normally, Paul François claimed a little more than 1 million euros from the German group. But the Lyon court considers that if Paul François was well the victim of acute poisoning on April 27, 2004 with post-traumatic stress, chronic disorders cannot be attributed to the inhalation of the lasso. In addition, the judges deduced the compensation paid by insurance and estimated at 142,000 euros, to achieve a compensation amount of 11,135 euros.
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