Judge Won’t Throw Out Washington Suit Against Monsanto

A judge announced last week he will not throw out Washington’s lawsuit against Monsanto over pervasive pollution from PCBs.  In a ruling Thursday, the King County Superior Court Judge declined a request by Monsanto to dismiss the case, saying the Ag company had waived its right to bring the motion to dismiss by not filing it sooner.

In 2016, Attorney General Bob Ferguson made Washington the first U.S. state to sue Monsanto over its manufacture of PCBs.  Ferguson alleged that Monsanto long hid what it knew about the harmful effects of PCBs.  Oregon has also sued, and a judge there declined to dismiss that case last January.

Monsanto was the sole U.S. maker of PCBs until it stopped producing them in 1977.  The chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems, were banned two years later.  The company has said the case lacks merit, and it noted that Washington and other government entities were among the users of PCBs.  PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were used in many industrial and commercial applications, including in paint, coolants, sealants and hydraulic fluids.

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