Bayer’s Monsanto must pay $185 million after Washington court restores chemical leak verdict

(Corrects year of trial in paragraph 2)

By Diana Novak Jones

(Reuters) -A U.S. court reinstated a $185 million verdict against Bayer’s Monsanto unit over chemical contamination at a Washington state school on Thursday.

The Washington state Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling that vacated the verdict in a 2021 trial over claims brought by three teachers at Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington.

Monsanto has faced a string of trials over claims by teachers and others at Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington, who say they were sickened by exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

More than 200 students, employees and parents say they developed cancer, thyroid conditions, neurological injuries and other health problems from PCBs leaking from the school’s light fixtures. The chemicals were made by Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018.

(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Richard Chang)