By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – Monsanto will pay $160 million to settle a lawsuit by the city of Seattle that accused the unit of Germany’s Bayer of polluting the city’s drainage system and the local Lower Duwamish River with toxic chemicals known as PCBs.
City Attorney Ann Davison announced the settlement on Thursday, calling it the largest for a single city over PCB pollution.
In a statement, Monsanto said it will pay $35 million for PCB remediation, and $125 million to address other Seattle claims. The company did not admit liability or wrongdoing.
Seattle accused Monsanto of creating a public nuisance by selling polychlorinated biphenyls for commercial use from 1935 to 1977 despite knowing they polluted the environment, harming people and wildlife.
The city said PCBs remained over the years in exterior paint and caulk on buildings, and resulted in contaminated stormwater flowing into the river.
Seattle sued Monsanto in January 2016. The settlement averts a scheduled Sept. 23 trial in that city’s federal court.
Monsanto said in an August 2022 filing that Seattle had been seeking nearly $750 million.
The company reached a separate $95 million settlement with Washington state in June 2020 over PCB contamination.
PCBs were outlawed by the U.S. government in 1979, and have been linked to cancer, immune system and other health problems.
Monsanto was the only U.S. maker of PCBs. It has said it stopped making them because they were not readily biodegradable.
In November 2022, Monsanto won court approval for a $650 million settlement with a class of 2,500 local governments over PCB contamination in various waters.
Other governments chose to sue Monsanto individually. Monsanto said nine cases remain pending, and that it is committed to defending itself at trial unless it settles.
Bayer bought Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018. It has also faced extensive and costly litigation over whether Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer causes cancer.
The case is Seattle v. Monsanto Co et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 16-00107.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Diane Craft)
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