Monsanto hit with $857 mln verdict over PCBs in Washington state school

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Monsanto hit with $857 mln verdict over PCBs in Washington state school

By Clark Mindock
December 18, 2023 5:27 PM EST Updated 4 hours ago

Dec 18 (Reuters) - A Washington state jury on Monday ordered Bayer's Monsanto to pay $857 million to seven former students and parent volunteers of a school northeast of Seattle who claimed that chemicals known as PCBs made by the company leaked from light fixtures and made them sick, according to court documents.

The jury in Seattle found the company liable for selling polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) used in the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington that were not safe and did not contain adequate warnings. The verdict included $73 million in compensatory damages, and $784 million in punitive damages.

The plaintiffs included five former students and two parents who spent time at the school 7 to 18 years ago. They claimed exposure to PCBs at the school caused them to have neurological, endocrine system and other health concerns.

A statement from Monsanto called the award "constitutionally excessive" and said the company will move to have the verdict overturned or reduced.

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Read more: https://archive.is/iN6Dp

Original Reuters link (paywall): https://www.reuters.com/legal/monsanto-hit-with-857m-verdict-over-pcbs-washington-state-school-2023-12-18/

[LT Barclay]

1. Hopefully it isn't overturned and is the first of many successful lawsuits of the same type.

I am stunned by the stupidity of the polluters in this country. In my opinion if they complied with the regulations, that would give them some insulation from lawsuits. When they fight regulations and there are no real regulations in place, they should be liable for damages. We have a right to clean air, food, and water.

[DFW]

2. Monsanto has long been an evil organization.

Their history of known actions (“Seeds of Reprisal,” e.g.) is probably dwarfed by what they managed to cover up. I have no knowledge of what prompted the German company Bayer to buy them up (nor do most Germans, by the way), but it is widely assumed here that immense sums flowed to secret accounts of the board of directors of Bayer to interest them in acquiring such an unsavory entity.