Bayer Weighs ‘Texas Two-Step’ Bankruptcy Filing Over Roundup

  • Company seeks to foster settlement of weedkiller cancer cases
  • Bayer unit hit with $4 billion in recent US jury verdicts

Bayer AG is weighing whether to use a controversial legal maneuver known as the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy to try to resolve tens of thousands of US lawsuits claiming its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, according to people familiar with its thinking.

Faced with a recent string of costly jury verdicts over the herbicide, Bayer executives are consulting with law firms and advisers about how to prompt a bankruptcy judge to halt further trials scheduled for this year. The object is to wrangle a settlement of more than 50,000 cases, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential matter.