Plaintiff Lawyer Accused Of Extortion In Roundup Case

A Virginia plaintiff attorney has been arrested and accused of attempting to extort $200 million from manufacturers of a component chemical for the Monsanto herbicide Roundup. According to a DOJ complaint, Virginia plaintiff lawyer Timothy Litzenburg, from the law firm Kincheloe Litzenburg & Pendleton, said he wanted a company to pay him a $200 million consulting fee and that he would find clients to sue the company if it declined the proposal. The ask is alleged to have been directed to the company’s outside lawyers who then contacted DOJ, which then began recording phone calls between the parties. Litzenburg was formerly with the The Miller Firm, which won a landmark 2018 verdict against Monsanto in California state court, but he subsequently became embroiled in a legal battle with the firm: He maintained that he pioneered the Roundup litigation and was a major player on the legal team, while according to The Miller Firm he was a junior lawyer under the direction of senior attorneys and was engaging in “erratic and troubling behavior” by the end of the trial.