Monsanto Denied Summary Judgment in City of Seattle’s PCB Contamination Action

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge has denied three companies, including Monsanto Co., summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by the City of Seattle over PCB contamination of the Lower Duwamish Waterway, ruling that the State of Washington’s previous settlement of a similar lawsuit against the same defendants did not release the City’s public nuisance claim.

In a July 6 order, Judge Richard A. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation that state law did not plainly allow the State to release the City’s claim without the City’s …