Attempt to Mediate West Virginia Monsanto Suit Fails

Another attempt to resolve a West Virginia class-action pollution lawsuit against Monsanto Co. has failed.

Media outlets report that several hundred plaintiffs attended a court-ordered mediation Tuesday at a Charleston hotel. No settlement was reached.

An earlier mediation in October also ended without a settlement.

The lawsuit involves current and former Nitro residents who claim dioxin from a former Monsanto plant polluted residential properties and streams. The lawsuit seeks medical monitoring for at least 5,000 and as many as 80,000 people. Two cases were combined into the class-action lawsuit in 2008.

For more than 30 years, starting in 1949, the Nitro plant produced 2,4,5-T, a powerful herbicide ingredient that was later found to contain dioxin.

Dioxin has been linked to cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities, endometriosis, infertility and suppressed immune functions. It builds up in tissue over time, so even small exposures can accumulate to dangerous levels.

The Nitro plant closed in 2004.

“This is an extraordinarily important case,” lead plaintiff’s attorney Stuart Calwell said. “(Plaintiffs) want their town back. What they’re interested in is having a safe home to live in – I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

Jury selection for the trial is set to begin next week. Calwell said he plans to call 18 experts to testify.

The state Supreme Court appointed Mercer County Circuit Court Judge Derek Swope to preside over the trial after Putnam County Circuit Court Judge O.C. Spaulding stepped aside. Spaulding has been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.