The agreements, revealed in a court filing late Monday, are with lawyers representing consumers who argue Roundup caused their cancer. The settlements mark a significant step forward after the lawyers said two weeks ago that Bayer was backing out of their agreements. The judge handling all the cases filed in U.S. federal court expressed surprise in an Aug. 28 hearing at how little progress the company had made.

The latest settlements resolve about 15,000 U.S. lawsuits, according to lawyers familiar with the deals. Added to the approximately 32,000 settlements previously disclosed by Ken Feinberg, the mediator overseeing the process, Bayer has resolved at least 47,000 of the suits. The company has said it faces about 125,000 filed and unfiled Roundup claims. The value of the settlements wasn't disclosed.