Employees at the Clark Couonty Government Center and/or its Property v. Monsanto Company, et al.

Las Vegas, Nevada personal injury lawyers represented the Plaintiff who sued on exposure to toxic wastes.

Plaintiffs originally brought this case in Nevada state court alleging that some of the waste dumped at the site contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and that the former Monsanto Company (Old Monsanto) manufactured more than 99 percent of all PCBs sold in the United States. Old Monsanto’s corporate successors—Pharmacia LLC, Solutia Inc., and Monsanto Co—removed this case to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”).

Plaintiffs are 169 individuals who worked at the Clark County Government Center, a municipal building in Las Vegas. The building was constructed on a site previously owned by Union Pacific Railroad, which used it as a rail yard. The Las Vegas Downtown Redevelopment Agency acquired the site from Union Pacific and later sold it to Clark County. Plaintiffs allege that they were injured while working there because they were exposed to toxic chemicals present at the site.

According to plaintiffs, Union Pacific dumped diesel fuel and other waste at the site. Plaintiffs allege that some of that waste contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were used in a variety of industrial applications until Congress banned their production in the late 1970s. See 15 U.S.C. § 2605(e). Plaintiffs further allege that the former Monsanto Company (Old Monsanto) manufactured more than 99 percent of all PCBs sold in the United States. Old Monsanto’s corporate successors—Pharmacia LLC, Solutia Inc., and Monsanto Co. (collectively, Pharmacia)—inherited its liability arising from the production, sale, and distribution of PCBs.

Motion to remand granted.

Reversed