Among other things, the teachers protested the Court of Appeals’ finding that toxic exposure testimony offered by one of the plaintiffs’ experts, industrial hygienist Kevin Coghlan, was new and not generally recognized by the scientific community. The panel’s two-judge majority erred by ruling out certain calculations by Coghlan, the teachers argued, even though he was simply applying basic math to existing scientific techniques.
“That decision implicates all seven other jury verdicts from seven other trials, and it parts ways with the views of six experienced Washington judges, including five trial judges who were specifically selected for their expertise in complex civil litigation,” the teachers stated.
A spokesperson for Monsanto said the plaintiffs’ petition “comes as no surprise, as the Erickson appeal decision undercuts their case and should result in the reversal of all the past verdicts in this litigation given the cross-cutting errors cited in the opinion.”
Henry Jones of Friedman Rubin PLLP, representing the Sky Valley plaintiffs, said the teachers would file a motion with the state supreme court seeking expedited review.
