"WSJ article noted a Susquehanna legal analyst estimated $2.5-4bn total exposure over "many" years... at this rate seems kind of low... can these lawsuits from monsanto bleed into other bayer units? my initial thought would be no... "
That estimate seems very, very low. The first three trials have gone terribly for Bayer, and I believe the number of pending case is up over 13,000 now. I'm pretty confident that Bayer would happily pay $4B all at once this year if it would make this go away.
They really need some outright wins at trial.