Settlement Structure: Claims Made
Active: Closed
Closed Settlement Statement:
According to court documents, the claim submission deadline has passed. Please contact the claims administrator if you have any questions.
Case Summary:Monsanto Company, Solutia, Inc., and Pharmacia, LLC are paying $550 million to settle a class action alleging the contamination of the environment, particularly water, by industrial chemicals called PCBs. The plaintiffs are a group of cities and other entities, including, among others, Long Beach, Baltimore, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oakland, Spokane, and Tacoma.
Monsanto manufactured the chemicals, called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) between the 1930s and 1977. The complaints made claims about “Monsanto’s manufacture, sale, testing, disposal, release, marketing, promotion, or management of PCBs” and resulting environmental damage or impairments, including to bodies of water, with PCBs being found in stormwater, stormwater and wastewater systems, bodies of water, sediment, natural resources, fish, and wildlife.
The settlement is a complicated agreement of more than 360 pages, attempting to distribute the various settlement funds according to an allocation process.
Docket Number:2:16-cv-03493-FMO-AS
Company: Monsanto Company
Filing Deadline: January 23, 2023
Objection Deadline: July 25, 2022
Exclusion Deadline: July 25, 2022
Final Approval Hearing: October 13, 2022
Proof of Purchase:You do not need to provide proof to take part in the settlement.
Eligibility:You may be eligible if you are in the following settlement class: As of June 24, 2020 only, but not later,
- all NPDES Phase I and II city, town, village, borough, township, and independent port district Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (“MS2”) permittees with jurisdictional boundaries within a HUC 12 Watershed that contains and/or is immediately adjoining a 303(d) water body impaired by PCBs and
- all NPDES Phase I and II county MS4 permittees with urbanized, unincorporated boundaries within a HUC 12 Watershed that contains and/or is immediately adjoining a 303(d) water body impaired by PCBs.
Here are some definitions relating to this class:
- 303(d) water body impaired by PCBs: a water body listed on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list of waters impaired or threatened by PCBs.
- HUC 12 Watershed: US Geological Survey (USGS) 12-Digit Hydrologic Unit Code Watershed.
- NPDES: US EPA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, including its permit program, created by the Clean Water Act of 1972, as amended.
- Phase I: NPDES Stormwater program’s 1990 Phase I regulation of cities, towns, boroughs, villages, townships, counties, and independent port districts; comprises 273 initial class members.
- Phase II: NPDES Stormwater program’s 1999 Phase II regulation of cities, towns, boroughs, villages, townships, counties, and independent port districts; comprises 2,255 initial class members.
If you received a Notice about the proposed settlement in the mail, the notice says you are an initial settlement class member according to the parties’ records. Initial settlement class members were identified based on three databases: (1) the EPA 303(d) list of bodies of water impaired by PCBs; (2) USGS HUC 12 Watersheds; and (3) US Census Bureau.
For more information, see the Notice or the more than 300-page Settlement Agreement at https://angeion-public.s3.amazonaws.com/www.pcbclassaction.com/docs/2021-0617+%5B278-2%5D+Class+Action+Settlement+Agreement.pdf.
Typical Settlement Amount:Portion of one or more of the four settlement funds, including the Monitoring Fund, the TDML Fund, the Sediment Sites Fund, and the Special Needs Fund (Parts A and B). For more information on these funds, see the Settlement Agreement or the Notice at https://angeion-public.s3.amazonaws.com/www.pcbclassaction.com/docs/Monsanto+Notice+-+FINAL.pdf.
Total Settlement Amount: $550,000,000
Class Representative Proposed Incentive Fee:Unknown
Law Firm:
Baron & Budd
Claim Form: Sediment Sites Application
Case Name: In Re: Monsanto Class Action Settlement, City of Long Beach, et al. v. Monsanto Company, et al.
Settlement Website: Monsanto PCB Water Impairment Settlement Website
Claims Administrator:
Angeion Group
Monsanto Class Action Settlement
Claims Administrator
1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210
Philadelphia, PA 19103
info@pcbclassaction.com