Monsanto to pay $72M over PCB contamination, jury rules

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Monsanto PCB contamination lawsuit overview: 

• Who: A Seattle jury has ordered Monsanto to pay $72 million to Isabella Caldwell and a plaintiff identified as M.C. 
• Why: Monsanto was accused of supplying a Seattle-area school with fluorescent light fixtures that exposed individuals to polychlorinated biphenyls contamination, leading to chronic neurological injuries. 
• Where: The lawsuit is in the Superior Court of Washington for King County.

A Seattle jury ruled Monsanto must pay $72 million to two individuals who accused the chemical company of being responsible for chronic neurological injuries they suffered after being exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) contamination from old fluorescent light fixtures in a Seattle-area school. 

The jury awarded $12 million in total compensatory damages and $60 million in total punitive damages to a pair of plaintiffs last Friday, however, the group deadlocked on a decision for five additional plaintiffs, leading to a mistrial in those cases, reports Law360. 

Monsanto was accused of supplying fluorescent light fixtures to Sky Valley Education Center, a school in the city of Monroe around 35 minutes outside Seattle, that were unreasonably safe as constructed and unreasonable safe as designed. 

The jury, while ultimately agreeing with the claims, also found the light fixtures lacked adequate warnings and that they caused injuries to former Sky Valley Education Center students Isabella Caldwell and an individual identified as M.C., reports Law360. 

Monsanto facing around $700 million in verdicts related to PCB contamination at Sky Valley Education Center

Monsanto, following last week’s ruling, is now reportedly facing around $700 million in verdicts made for students and teachers who argue they were exposed to PCB contamination from light fixtures installed at the school in the late 1960s. 

The verdicts are the result of six lawsuits revolving around PCB contamination from fluorescent light fixtures at Sky Valley that have gone to trial, with one ending in a mistrial and other verdicts currently under appeal, reports Law360. 

A lawyer for Monsanto, during closing arguments, reportedly argued plaintiffs had not met their burden of proof for claims PCBs found in the air at Sky Valley were responsible for their current medical ailments. 

An attorney for the plaintiffs, meanwhile, told the jury Monsanto had been aware for decades about the dangers of PCB manufacturing, prior to the practice being banned in the US in the late 1970s, reports Law360. 

In other settlement news involving Monsanto, the company agreed to pay a total of $550 million last year to resolve claims it contributed to water contamination in a number of different cities due to pollution from PCBs. 

Have you been exposed to PCB contamination at Sky Valley Education Center? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Sean J. Gamble, Richard H. Friedman, Henry G. Jones and Ronald J. Park of Friedman Rubin PLLP, and Darrell L. Cochran, Thomas B. Vertetis, Colleen Durkin Peterson, Andrew S. Ulmer, Michael T. Pfau, and Alexander G. Dietz of Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC.

The Monsanto PCB contamination lawsuit is Clinger, et al. v. Pharmacia LLC, Case No. 18-2-54572-2, in the King County Superior Court. 

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