Monsanto Guilty Verdict Is Only Beginning

Journal Neo. 15.08.2018

A jury trial in California has resulted in a guilty verdict against the agrichemical and GMO giant, Monsanto, now Bayer/Monsanto. The judge has ordered Monsanto to pay damages of USD 289 Million to former school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, who has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His lawyer argued it was caused by Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weed-killer Roundup. Not surprisingly Monsanto plans to appeal the verdict. The impact of the ruling, regardless the outcome of the appeal, will unleash worldwide consequences that spell huge problems for the entire GMO agrochemicals business model.

The Johnson trial, Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto Co., CGC-16-550128, in California Superior Court in San Francisco,is the first of more than 5,000 such cases across the United States awaiting trial for claims that Roundup ingredients cause cancer.

Johnson, age 46, is a former pest control manager for a California county school system, where he applied Roundup and Monsanto’s Ranger Pro on school grounds across the county up to 30 times per year for more than two and a half years.

According to the magazine Insurance Journal, the guilty verdict could influence the outcome of thousands of similar cases against Monsanto glyphosate-based Roundup. Notably, the same law firm, California-based Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, PC is involved as part of the legal team in many of the other cases awaiting trial.

Donald Trump signs a bill enabling state and federal authorities to pursue websites that host sex-trafficking ads

WP April 11, 2018

President Trump signed a bill Wednesday that gives federal and state prosecutors greater power to pursue websites that host sex-trafficking ads and enables victims and state attorneys general to file lawsuits against those sites.

Addressing the victims and family members in attendance, the president said, “I’m signing this bill in your honor. … You have endured what no person on Earth should ever have to endure.” Trump added, “This is a great piece of legislation, and it’s really going to make a difference.”

The bill, nicknamed “FOSTA” for its title, “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act,” goes into effect immediately, but its impact was already being seen around the Internet as sites shut down sex-related areas and stopped accepting sex-related advertising.

 “FOSTA gives prosecutors the tools they need,” said Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), chief sponsor of the bill, “to ensure that no online business can ever approach the size of Backpage again.”

SDA GC files suit over $12M

John O'Connor Jan 10 2017

The General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists has filed a civil case against Department of Revenue and Taxation Director John Camacho in the Superior Court of Guam over alleged non-payment of more than $12 million in back taxes.

According to court documents filed in October 2016, DRT determined that the Guam Seventh-Day Adventist Clinic Pharmacy owed about $12.6 million in business privilege taxes for the years 1991 through 2013. This includes about $3 million in penalties. 

The Guam Adventist Book and Food Center was also assessed more than $350,000 in business taxes, with penalties exceeding $88,000 for the same time period.

Letter from Rev & Tax

An informal hearing with SDA on the tax issue was conducted on Sept. 1, 2016, according to a Sept. 29 letter from DRT. The church claimed that both the clinic and food center were covered under its tax-exempt status through a "blanket exemption" in local law that also applied to unrelated business income. 

However, Camacho contended that Guam law specifically outlined which activities the tax exemption applied to. These included regular activities, a lottery or a carnival, fiesta, dance, athletic performance or other similar entertainment sponsored by the entity.

"There is no legislative history or committee reports to provide examples on the types of activities which would be regular activities of a church under statute," Camacho stated in the letter. "Doubts concerning exemption are to be resolved against the exemption and in favor of taxation."

Camacho ultimately concluded that the SDA clinic and food center were not tax-exempt activities and that the church would be required to pay taxes on those operations.

Exemptions

The law exempts charitable, scientific and educational activities, according to the suit, and the operations of the food center and clinic fall within that purview.

Among its claims for relief, SDA requested a determination from the court that its tax-exemption applies to all subsequent and future revenues of the clinic and food center. 

Legal counsels for SDA and DRT appeared before Judge Alberto Lamorena of the Superior Court of Guam yesterday. A status hearing is set for Feb. 13.     Post Guam