In addressing other issues that may recur in future proceedings, the Erickson panel said jurors cannot award punitive damages for post-sale failure to warn.
While Monsanto has maintained that punitive damages shouldn’t be allowed in the case outright because they are not permitted under Washington’s product liability law, the appellate panel determined that the jury could award punitive damages only on the defective product claims existing under Missouri law.
But because Missouri law does not have a cause of action for post-sale failure to warn, and it wasn’t apparent how much of the $185 million verdict was attributable to that claim, the panel said the trial court would need to revisit the issue on remand.
“In future proceedings, special interrogatories are required to establish the particular theory of liability supporting punitive damages, limited to claims that exist under Missouri law,” the panel wrote.
In the only two other trials where jurors had the option of finding Monsanto liable for post-sale failure to warn, the forms show that was just one of the juries’ grounds for awarding punitive damages.
