A San Francisco jury reached a verdict in the case against chemical giant Monsanto on Friday. 

In a landmark decision, the plaintiff Dewayne Lee Johnson was awarded $250 million in punitive damages and nearly $40 million in compensatory damages. 

The jury found the company failed to adequately warn of the risks of using chemical weedkiller Roundup.

The courtroom battle between Johnson,46, and Monsanto started back in July.

Johnson is dying of cancer and blames his disease on glyphosate, an active ingredient in Roundup. 

The company has denied ties between the chemical and cancer. 

Johnson’s case was the first of hundreds more scheduled to be heard by juries.

His lawyer told the jury the grim facts of his diagnosis.

“The simple fact is he’s gonna die,” Johnson’s lawyer said. “It’s just a matter of time, and between now and then, he’s gonna have to use more chemo, more radiation, more whatever the heck he can to try to live another day longer.”

Johnson used Roundup and a generic product, Ranger Pro as a pest control manager for the Benicia Unified School District. 

The married father of three developed a rash when he was 42 and in 2014 was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. 

Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge said the company plans to appeal Friday’s ruling:

We are sympathetic to Mr. Johnson and his family. Today’s decision does not change the fact that more than 800 scientific studies and reviews – and conclusions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and regulatory authorities around the world – support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer, and did not cause Mr. Johnson’s cancer. We will appeal this decision and continue to vigorously defend this product, which has a 40-year history of safe use and continues to be a vital, effective, and safe tool for farmers and others.”  

Johnson’s case went to trial first first because doctors say he doesn’t have long to live.

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