In the Washington state court system, a group of teachers, students, and family members have filed a series of lawsuits seeking compensation from Pharmacia (a successor to Monsanto) for injuries allegedly caused by chemicals that leaked from fluorescent lights in a school. We previously reported on a big punitive damages verdict in one of these lawsuits here.
The Washington Court of Appeals has now weighed in on this litigation for the first time, reversing a judgment that awarded $185 million, including $135 million in punitive damages, to three former teachers. The court’s published opinion concludes that the trial court committed several errors: refusing to consider a defense of Washington’s statute of repose, failure to properly apply Missouri law on punitive damages (Monsanto was headquartered in Missouri), and improperly admitting novel scientific theories offered by plaintiffs’ experts. This case will go back to the trial court for further proceedings, and the various related cases involving the same issues are likely to be resolved in the same way.