In France, a court sided with French cereal grain farmer Paul François who inhaled fumes of Lasso, a weedkiller manufactured by Monsanto, when he opened the tank of his pulveriser machine. François suffered neurological problems including memory loss, headaches and stammering after inhaling the fumes. The court found Monsanto had failed to provide adequate warning on its product labels and awarded compensation to François.

"Monsanto is responsible for Paul François' suffering after he inhaled the Lasso product... and must entirely compensate him," stated the February 13th, 2012 decision of the French court.

A New York Court heard preliminary arguments January 31, 2012 on a class action lawsuit against Monsanto's aggressive patent infringement protection practices. Judge Buchwald, the presiding judge, has promised a decision as to whether the class action suit will go forward by March 31, 2012.

Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) launched the suit March 29, 2011 on behalf of approximately 300,000 organic farmers and food distributors. OSGATA alleges that the crops of many small organic farmers fall victim to cross-pollination, a process for which they cannot be held responsible. The group claims that farmers are forced to stop growing certain crops to avoid genetic contamination and potential patent infringement litigation.

"We have farmers who have stopped growing organic corn, organic canola and organic soybeans because they can't risk being sued by Monsanto," said the president of OSGATA, Jim Gerritsen. "It's not fair and it's not right."