Word: carres
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Named for its lead plaintiff, a retired schoolteacher, the case was originally filed in Boone County, Mo., where the spill occurred. But Carr refiled it, over Monsanto's objection, in St. Clair County, Ill., where the chemical was made. He was well aware that juries have been generous there. Complains Monsanto Lawyer David Snively: "St. Clair is renowned as a plaintiff's paradise...
Over another Monsanto objection, Carr got all the spill cases consolidated, so the proceedings involved 65 plaintiffs, each with multiple medical complaints from alleged dioxin exposure. More than 80,000 pages of testimony from 167 witnesses have been transcribed so far. The case file is already five feet thick. Over 6,000 exhibits have been entered into evidence...
...Monsanto's lawyers trundle boxes of documents to court on baggage carts from leased offices two blocks away. The courtroom is cluttered with 4-ft. by 5-ft. symptom boards, outlining alleged dioxin-related plaintiff ills ranging from headaches and high blood pressure to depression and decreased sexual desire. Carr concedes that "none of my clients is falling down sick." But the core of his case concerns possible future cancer developing from dioxin exposure in the 1979 spill...
...from court. Most continue to draw salaries from their pretrial employers. Four jurors have been excused for illness or injury since the trial began. The original juror panel of 18 is now down to 14, including two alternates. If the number falls below twelve, a mistrial is likely. Carr charges Monsanto with scheming to force one through a strategy of "delay, delay and more delay...
...decide not only the question of Monsanto's guilt but the amount of damages to be assessed. If Monsanto loses, it will almost certainly appeal, in which case an appellate judge might take the better part of a year just to read over the record. Attorney friends have told Carr, who is 60, that he may be senile before he sees a dollar of Monsanto money. "Maybe," he replies, "I was senile when I agreed to get into this fight in the first place...