$62 million award in suit over toxic chemicals at school

MONROE, Wash. (AP) — Students and parents who say they suffered brain injuries from exposure to toxic chemicals at a Monroe, Washington, public school were awarded $62 million by a jury this week. The Seattle Times reports that Wednesday’s decision is the second successful lawsuit involving noxious conditions at the school. More than 200 students, parents and teachers from Sky Valley Education Center say they were poisoned by leaky light ballasts laden with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a type of now-banned chemical that is linked to several illnesses. They’ve filed 22 lawsuits against Bayer Pharmaceuticals, which in 2018 acquired chemical giant Monsanto, with the first two resulting in jury verdicts of $247 million combined. Bayer says it disagrees with the verdicts.