CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Courtney Rowley delivering her opening statement
Seattle, WA - A Washington state court jury heard opening statements Thursday in the latest trial over allegations that long-lasting toxic chemicals in a local school caused serious negative health effects in former staff members and students, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
15 plaintiffs who worked or attended school at the Sky Valley Education Center in the Monroe School District claim dangerous chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls - or PCBs - present in the aging school’s outdated fluorescent light fixtures and in building caulk gave them a range of neurological injuries.
However Bayer-owned Monsanto argues the levels of PCBs, which were banned by the EPA in 1979, were never high enough in the school to cause the plaintiffs’ alleged injuries, which they suggested could also be caused by mold, dust and poor ventilation in the dilapidated facility.
PCBs were used for a wide range of industrial purposes from 1929 until being banned in 1979. They are often referred to as “forever chemicals” due to their extreme durability and slow rate of decay.
The trial marks the ninth time students and teachers at Sky Valley have taken Monsanto to trial over PCBs in the facility. CVN recorded a number of those trials, which included plaintiff verdicts of $275 million, $185 million, and $82 million among others - though the $185 million verdict was recently overturned on appeal.
During her opening statement on behalf of the current plaintiffs, attorney Courtney Rowley of Trial Lawyers For Justice told the King County jury her team would seek up toe $750 million in compensatory damages - or roughly $30 million to $50 million per plaintiff. The potential inclusion of punitive damages could push a verdict into the billions.
Rowley accused Monsanto of marketing and selling PCBs despite knowing they could pose a serious health risk. She cited the company's supposed efforts as far back as the 1950’s to limit public disclosure of a US Navy study showing PCBs were toxic to rabbits.
Rowley blamed Monsanto, the sole manufacturer of PCBs in the United States, of failing to undertake adequate testing of the chemicals despite knowing they were used in environments where people could have frequent exposure to them.
“The evidence will show that Monsanto chooses not to do long-term chronic toxicity testing so they don’t have to determine how much ordinary people are being exposed to PCBs,” Rowley said.
Representing Monsanto, defense attorney Kimberly Branscome told jurors the company did take steps to warn the government and consumers about PCBs, but she stressed that could only happen after the scientific consensus on PCBs evolved over the years.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Kimberly Branscome delivering her opening statement
She noted that Monsanto formed a specific PCB committee in the late 1960’s - nearly a decade before the chemicals were banned - to consider the issue.
“November of 1969, PCBs had been discovered in the environment, and there was a question about these persistent chemicals that were not naturally degrading in the environment,” she said.
Branscome also suggested that most of the light fixtures containing PCBs lasted only 10-15 years and would have been long replaced since the chemicals were banned from further use in 1979.
The trial is expected to take roughly two months to complete and CVN's gavel-to-gavel coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The consolidated case caption is Rose, et al. v. Pharmacia LLC, case number 21-2-14304-7 SEA.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com