Anniston PCB litigants and Monsanto Corp. once again will try mediation.Calhoun County Circuit Judge Joel Laird appointed Rick Kuykendall, a Birmingham attorney, Monday morning to mediate several combined PCB cases in his courtroom. More than 3,500 plaintiffs are demanding property and personal damages from Monsanto for allegedly polluting them with PCBs.
Kuykendall already is designated by Laird as a special master for the PCB litigation, meaning that he assists Laird by assessing technical aspects of the cases.
Attorneys said an attempt to mediate the cases two years ago was unsuccessful. The reasons for the failure were concealed under a confidentiality agreement.
"I don't think they should give up," Laird said, following Monday's 9 a.m. pretrial hearing, which lasted about one hour.
"We will comply with the court's order," said Monsanto attorney Adam Peck.
Plaintiffs' attorney Donald Stewart said, "We plant to attempt to resolve this with the other side. I would be hopeful that we could solve it."
Stewart said he will continue to prepare for the Oct. 1 trial date in Laird's courtroom in Gadsden. Laird transferred the cases to the Gadsden circuit court in June.
Laird said he will order several more hearings before Oct. 1 to continue to "iron out little wrinkles" involving scheduling and other technical matters.
Laird has previously objected to splitting the cases into separate trials. He has ordered an initial jury trial on the claims of a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 50 plaintiffs. Monsanto had originally requested the cases of all 3,500 plaintiffs be split and judged separately.
Instead, the initial trial of 25 or more plaintiffs will incorporate all expert testimony and will determine whether Monsanto should be held generally liable for the alleged pollution.
Depending on the outcome, Laird will schedule additional trials for the remainder of the plaintiffs. The ensuing trials would be much shorter than the initial trial, Laird said.
The judge said he plans to issue more orders regarding pending motions and scheduling matters as early as next Tuesday.
