CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Courtney Rowley delivering her closing argument
Seattle, WA - A Washington state court jury hit agrochemical giant Monsanto with a $100 million verdict on Tuesday in the latest trial over exposure to toxic long-lasting chemicals known as PCBs in an aging school facility, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The King County jury split the $25 million in compensatory and $75 million in punitive damages amongst four plaintiffs, however they also found the company not liable for the injuries claimed by 11 other plaintiffs as a result of supposedly being exposed to PCBs in old-fashioned fluorescent lights and building caulk at the Sky Valley Educational Center.
The verdict came following a two-month trial and adds to a total of $1.5 billion awarded over PCB exposure at the Sky Valley facility. Monsanto has challenged all of those verdicts on appeal, and many of those previous trials were also recorded by CVN and are available for unlimited on-demand viewing with a subscription to CVN’s online trial video library.
Hundreds of students, parents and school employees accused Bayer-owned Monsanto of knowing PCBs posed a serous health risk years before they were banned in the United States in the late 1970’s, after previously being used for a wide range of industrial purposes. Plaintiffs claim exposure to the compounds, dubbed “forever chemicals” due to their extreme durability, caused a range of ailments from neurological and thyroid conditions to cancer.
However Monsanto argued the PCB levels in the Sky Valley facility were far too low to cause the plaintiffs alleged injuries, in addition to arguing at prior trials that the plaintiffs' health issues were the result of mold and poor ventilation at the run-down school.
Monsanto issued a statement after the trial saying it will pursue an appeal, and that while pleased the jury declined to award damages for some plaintiffs would still challenge the “excessive” awards for others.
“The objective evidence in this case, including blood, air and other tests, demonstrated that PCB levels were low or non-existent and could not be the cause of the injuries alleged in the case,” the company stated.
Henry Jones, an attorney with Friedman Rubin, told CVN on behalf of the plaintiffs the scientific complexities of the case posed a challenge for jurors.
"Every case is different and the juries are clearly working very hard to try to get things right for the generational harm caused by PCBs," Jones said.
In addition to unlimited on-demand access to numerous Monsanto PCB trials, a CVN video library subscription includes hundreds of other civil trials from throughout the United States featuring many of the country's top trial attorneys in practice areas ranging from mass torts to automotive negligence to medical malpractice and many others.
The plaintiffs were also represented by Nick Rowley and Courtney Rowley of Trial Lawyers for Justice.
Monsanto was represented by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP.
The case is captioned Rose et al. v. Pharmacia LLC, case number 87281-8, in King County Superior Court.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
