POLICY ROUNDUP

A Texas-based private law firm, which for years has been donating to candidates for state attorney general, has been hired by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to sue Monsanto over alleged polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination.

Washington’s suit, filed in King County, says Monsanto “knew PCBs were toxic to humans and wildlife and had spread throughout the ecosystem” 10 years before they were banned in 1979.

Baron & Budd, and Gomez Trial Attorneys of San Diego are involved in similar actions on behalf of several cities in Washington, California and Oregon, according to a Forbes report.

Ferguson’s office said Baron & Budd’s involvement in other suits is the reason he hired the two firms without receiving bids from other companies.

In recent years, Baron & Budd has spent $50,000 supporting mostly Democratic state attorney general candidates in several states, including Washington. Ferguson received $1,800 in 2012 and $1,000 in 2016.

The largest beneficiary of Baron & Budd’s donations was Hector Balderas, who received $10,400 in 2014. He is now the attorney general of New Mexico. Nevada attorney general candidate Ross Miller received $10,000 in 2014 but lost.

Monsanto is liable for damages totaling “hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more,” Ferguson said at a press conference announcing the suit in early December. Defendants have called the lawsuits a “super tort.”

“This case is highly experimental because it seeks to target a product manufacturer for selling a lawful and useful chemical four to eight decades ago that was applied by the U.S. government, Washington state, local cities and industries into many products to make them safer,” Scott S. Patridge, vice president of global strategy for Monsanto, told Legal Newsline. – Joana Suleiman

LAW ENFORCEMENT

‘We’re going to lose lives:’ Mississippi governor warns of shortage of state troopers

“We’re almost at the point of declaring a disaster because we’re short on troopers,” said Gov. Phil Bryant last week. “If we can’t get more troopers on the road we’re going to lose lives. People’s very lives depend upon having more troopers on that road.”

Only 489 of the 650 state trooper positions allowed by the state are filled. Bryant has asked lawmakers to approve funds for another law enforcement school and to get more officers on the road.

Sixty-six troopers have left the force since the last trooper school in 2015, which graduated 49, according to a report by the Clarion-Ledger. The Department of Public Safety Commissioner said that at least five of those have gone to Texas, where trooper salaries are significantly higher. The newspaper reported that a trooper with four years’ experience in Texas makes $89,264. A Mississippi trooper with the same experience makes $41,000.

Bryant told lawmakers to take a hard look at recruiting more within the state. “There are a lot of very good law enforcement officers working for police departments and sheriff’s departments that with the proper training could easily translate into a highly qualified highway patrolman.”

The number of highway fatalities and injuries has been steadily climbing as the number of troopers has declined. – Joana Suleiman

EDUCATION

Feds file suit against biggest student loan company

The federal government filed a lawsuit on Jan. 18 against Navient, the country’s largest private student loan company. Additional lawsuits were filed against Navient and Sallie Mae by the attorneys general of Illinois and Washington.

According to the lawsuits, both Navient and Sallie Mae have been deceiving borrowers into paying more than required. Navient supposedly pushed struggling borrowers to enter forbearance, which requires fewer Navient resources to process, instead of income-driven repayment plans, which set monthly payments at a certain portion of a borrower’s income. The lawsuit also alleges that Navient damaged some borrowers’ credit scores by incorrectly reporting them to be in default.

Navient countered those claims in a statement, saying almost half of its federal loans are income-driven. The company called the lawsuit politically motivated. “The timing of this lawsuit — midnight action filed on the eve of a new administration — reflects their political motivations.”

The lawsuits that include Sallie Mae allege the company gave out “expensive student loans that it knew were going to fail,” according to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Navient handles roughly one in four student loans, or more than 12 million student loan accounts, in the country: half are federal loans, half are private. – Jason Russell