Top Defense Results: Smith v. Monsanto Co. et al.

In successfully defending his client in a product liability trial, Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner Lawrence P. Riff had to simplify complex medical issues and get a jury to evaluate a company's actions at the long-ago time when pivotal decisions were made.

The plaintiffs sued Pharmacia Corp., previously known as Monsanto Co., after they contracted a form of cancer called Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. They said the disease was caused by the presence of Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in their bodies.

PCBs are chemicals that were regularly used in things like electrical equipment, oil-based paints and adhesives before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned them in 1979.

The plaintiffs alleged that foods they consumed contained PCBs, which contributed to their development of cancer, according to court documents.

"The biggest challenge is to have a jury evaluate the conduct of this company in light of the way life was lived 40 to 80 years ago and not to apply 2014 standards to that conduct," Riff said.

"What we needed to do was help the jury know what life was like in 1950 before the EPA, before there was an environmental movement, before government imposed regulatory standards," he added.

Defense attorneys addressed the jury's emotions and empathy for the plaintiffs by dealing with it directly.

"The key is to let the jury know it's really OK and natural for them to feel great sympathy for these people," Riff said. "Acknowledge it and permit people to have those feelings, then focus back to what we're doing at the trial, which is examining facts."

The plaintiffs' lead counsel was Allen M. Stewart, who could not be reached for comment.

A Los Angeles County jury rejected the plaintiff's case, which sought $60 million in compensatory and punitive damages, in a May verdict. Smith v. Monsanto Co. et al., BC459771 (L.A. County Super. Ct., filed Apr. 19, 2011).

"What we needed to do was educate the jury as to whether or not [the chemicals] were actually causing harm," Riff said. "The evidence we presented said they're not and they're definitely not causing Non-Hodgkin lymphoma."

- MELANIE BRISBON