Settlement negotiations in the Monsanto trial involving eight top officers from Solutia, Monsanto and Pharmacia came to an abrupt halt Tuesday afternoon when defense attorneys announced that the Alabama Supreme Court had granted an emergency stay in the proceedings.
Monsanto filed the emergency petition at lunchtime. The Supreme Court granted it a couple of hours later, according to a legal source in Montgomery.
The petition to the Supreme Court complained that "during the course of the settlement conference the (judge) brought in several deputy sheriffs, threatening to hold petitioners (Monsanto) in contempt and place one or more of their executives in custody unless petitioners settled the case."
Calhoun County Circuit Judge Joel Laird said Tuesday evening that his purpose was not to force a settlement, but rather it was to encourage the attorneys to negotiate in good faith.
Laird said he learned of the ruling from Monsanto attorney Jere White during the settlement negotiation and he received confirmation from the Supreme Court shortly after that.
Normally in an emergency stay, the Supreme Court would ask the parties to file briefs. In this case, the Supreme Court's role in the trial ends with the stay because Laird responded by canceling the settlement negotiations permanently.
In Alabama, it is not uncommon that emergency petitions are submitted during civil proceedings.
About 3,500 litigants in the Monsanto trial accuse the company of polluting their Anniston area properties and their blood with PCBs. The trial jury found Monsanto liable two weeks ago, after hearing 17 of those cases, but the jury has not yet deliberated on compensatory damages. Laird has said he will likely have the jury begin deliberating compensatory damages within the next week.
Laird ordered the opposing parties to discuss settlement of the pollution case, writing in his Feb. 25 order that "to this date all parties have failed to make a good-faith attempt" to achieve a settlement.
He ordered the chief executive officers and general counsels from Monsanto, Solutia and Pharmacia to attend the settlement negotiation, which began at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Laird noted that a settlement negotiation was particularly timely because of the Gadsden trial jury's ruling on Monsanto's liability for polluting the Anniston area and creating a public nuisance.
Laird said he had ordered the opposing parties into mediation and settlement negotiations several times previously since the case was filed in 1996, but each effort was unsuccessful.
After the high court's ruling, Laird continued Tuesday night with hearings to determine what kind of injunctive relief he may order for PCB-contaminated areas from Calhoun to Shelby counties. Laird began the night hearings a week ago and has had four nights of hearings since that time.
Laird also intends to call the jury back to rule on liability concerning the remainder of the 3,500 claims. Laird has asked the attorneys for the plaintiffs to submit those claims in writing for the jury's consideration. The jury may be called back as early as today to begin that work.
