The three teachers, joined by one of their spouses, were the first among more than 200 plaintiffs tied to the Sky Valley Education Center to take their claims to trial. They presented evidence that they were sickened by Monsanto-made polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) emitted by aging fluorescent light ballasts at the school site, roughly 35 miles northeast of Seattle. The cases have so far resulted in more than $1.2 billion in losses for Pharmacia LLC, the Monsanto spin-off responsible for litigation stemming from its manufacture of PCBs from the 1930s to 1977, with more cases pending trial.
Reversing a King County Superior Court jury’s $185 million award to the three teachers, the Court of Appeals panel concluded that the trial court wrongly determined that the Washington Product Liability Act’s statute of repose did not apply to the case. Instead, it had looked to the product liability law of Monsanto’s home state of Missouri, which does not have a similar time limit for defective product claims.
