Jury Delivers $100 Million Verdict Against Monsanto Over Chemical Exposure at Monroe School
On Wednesday, a jury from King County reached a decision against Monsanto in the amount of one hundred million dollars for chemical exposure that occurred at an education center in Monroe.
The Sky Valley Education Center was constructed using materials that were discovered to contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were proved to be hazardous. As a result, they caused a variety of health issues in both the teachers and the pupils, including severe brain injuries.
A total of fifteen plaintiffs were involved in the litigation; however, the jury only decided to award punitive damages and compensatory damages to four of the plaintiffs. As far as the remaining eleven plaintiffs were concerned, the jury decided in favor of the firm.
At this time, Monsanto has stated that it intends to seek post-trial motions as well as an appeal, if required, in order to either reverse the adverse verdict or lower the high damages that were granted.
“This case also may have to be retried because the trial court refused to stay it pending the outcome of the state Supreme Court case in Erickson, the first of the SVEC cases to go to trial, which raises many cross-cutting issues. Monsanto looks forward to arguing before the state Supreme Court in Erickson next month that the award of any punitive damages was error reflecting a mashup of Washington liability law and Missouri punitive damages law that fails to comply with the U.S. Constitution, state law or choice-of-law principles,” a Monsanto spokesperson stated.
An attorney by the name of Nick Rowley referred to the ruling as a watershed decision and referred to it as “a crucial step forward.”
“Monsanto falsified science by switching out dead rats with live rats and publishing fraudulent research that was used for decades to hide the truth about the dangers PCBs pose,” defense attorney Nick Rowley in a release stated. “They poisoned millions of students, parents, and teachers, and the ongoing presence of these dangerous chemicals in America’s public schools presents a national health crisis.”
This trial was the tenth time that parents and former kids at Sky Valley had been exposed to these “forever chemicals.” The only producer of PCBs, which were banned in the 1970s, was Monsanto. The PCBs were discovered in classroom caulk and fluorescent light ballasts.
“Chemical poisoning” at the Sky Valley School
Over the years, over 100 people have complained about health problems caused by the Monroe School District buildings, but Monroe didn’t do anything about it until 2016.
Autoimmune disorders, neurological disorders, respiratory and cardiac disorders, thyroid and endocrine disorders, skin disorders, developmental disorders in children, including early puberty, reproductive disorders, nausea, liver damage, stomach pain, and vision issues are among the health issues that have been reported.
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Parents, instructors, and kids dealing with negative health consequences attributed their health issues to school poisoning. Although contamination was first reported in a 2016 lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court, problems had existed for years.
In a different lawsuit, Washington State and the Monroe School District were accused of knowing that PCBs in school buildings could lead to health problems based on a state study conducted in 2006.
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According to a 2007 examination of school buildings, Sky Valley Education Center, which is known to be PCB-contaminated, has the worst degree of deterioration in the district. The Monroe School District kept using the building for instruction rather than shutting it.