Seattle, WA – A group of public school teachers is urging the Washington State Supreme Court to review a state appellate court decision that overturned their $185 million win in a PCB tort case against Monsanto. The teachers contend that the ruling stifles plaintiffs’ rights in cases stemming from the same school site and other product liability litigation.
The teachers, led by Kerry L. Erickson, argue that the three-judge panel from the Washington Court of Appeals’ first division erred when it reversed the $185 million verdict. Monsanto had argued that it should have been able to assert the Evergreen State’s statute of repose as a defense. In a Friday petition, the teachers urged the state’s high court to revisit the ruling, focusing on the finding that their claims were potentially limited by the rule that product sellers usually can’t be held liable for harm occurring after the product’s 12-year “useful safe life” expires.
“If the harsh logic of the Division One decision is allowed to stand, the claims of injured Washington residents can be extinguished long before they ever arise, long before anyone could conceivably have discovered their cause, and in the case of every child plaintiff involved, long before the victim was even born,” the teachers stated in their petition for review.
