In 2007, plaintiff Fred Steele, a landscape worker in his mid-50s who worked for the state of California, was diagnosed with a subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is cancer of the lymph tissue. In 2010, plaintiff Arutyun Karabadzhakyan, a truck and limousine driver in his late-50s, was also diagnosed with a subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Steele and Karabadzhakyan were ultimately determined to have “elevated” levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their bodies, as compared with a national database of blood test results. PCBs are a group of 209 chemical compounds that were widely used as non-flammable, insulating fluids in electrical transformers and capacitors, as well as were used in a variety of other products, such as paints and carbonless copy paper, before the manufacturing of PCBs ceased in 1977. Steele and Karabadzhakyan claimed that they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma as a result of eating food contaminated by PCBs manufactured by Monsanto Co. (now known as Pharmacia Corp.) and its affiliates from the 1930s until the mid-1970s. They also accused Monsanto, which was the largest manufacturer of PCBs in the United States, of continuing to produce the compounds for decades while withholding its health risks from the public. Steele and Karabadzhakyan sued Monsanto Co., Pfizer Inc., Pharmacia Corp., Solutia Inc., and Southern California Gas Co. Steele and Karabadzhakyan alleged that the four Monsanto defendants (Monsanto Co., Pharmacia Corp., Solutia Inc., and Pfizer Inc.) negligently designed and/or manufactured PCB products that caused PCBs to get into the environment, food chain, and natural gas pipelines in their area. They also alleged that Solutia, which was formed in 1997 out of Monsanto’s chemical division, assumed the debt and liabilities of Monsanto’s chemical products. They further alleged that SoCal Gas, which connected its pipeline with that of Transwestern Pipeline Co., had a PCB-contaminated compressor station in New Mexico and knowingly contaminated its own pipeline with PCBs through a technique called “oil fogging” in order to reduce rusting and corrosion. The case of Steele and Karabadzhakyan was one of 26 cases filed in Los Angeles and St. Louis in which the plaintiffs (699 in total) claimed to have developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma from exposure to PCBs. Paul Brownlee was another plaintiff named in the Steele/Karabadzhakyan matter, but his action was voluntarily dismissed. Defendant SoCal Gas was also let out of the case prior to trial. In addition, it was ultimately determined that Solutia was a divestiture of Monsanto, that Monsanto merged with Pharmacia Corp. in 2000, and that Pfizer also merged with Pharmacia Corp. in 2003. Since Steele and Karabadzhakyan had alleged that their condition was caused by eating food contaminated by PCBs manufactured between the 1930s and mid-1970s, they dismissed their claims against Pharmacia, Pfizer and Solutia. Thus, Steele and Karabadzhakyan only pursued their claims of negligence, manufacturing defect, and design defect against Monsanto. Counsel for Steele and Karabadzhakyan contended that Monsanto continued to produce PCBs for decades while withholding its health risks from the public. Counsel also contended that Monsanto was negligent in its failure to test the long-term effects of PCBs and that Monsanto negligently manufactured and sold products in mass quantities, despite knowing that PCBs were getting into the food chain. Monsanto’s counsel argued that while PCBs are known to be in the environment, it has not been linked to the development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans. Counsel also argued that actions taken by the company as far back as the 1930s must be considered in a different light than the more stringent environmental standards in place today, but even so, Monsanto’s conduct decades ago was consistent with today’s standard of care., Steele, a landscape worker for the state of California from 1975 to 2009, was diagnosed with a subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2007. When his blood was tested in 2011, it was found to have six types of PCBs and the results were in the highest quartile of the population. Karabadzhakyan, an Armenian immigrant who has worked as a truck and limousine driver since he emigrated to the United States in the mid-80s, was diagnosed with a subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010. When his blood was tested at that time, he also tested in the highest quartile of PCB contamination. Both Steele and Karabadzhakyan both treated their cancer with chemotherapy. Steele, who was 63 at the time of trial, and Karabadzhakyan, who was 64 at the time of trial, sought recovery of over $20 million in combined in compensatory damages and an unspecified amount of punitive damages. Modesto’s counsel noted that of the PCB congeners tested in each plaintiff, several were found to have been in the top 25 percent of the U.S. population. Counsel also noted that more than 90 percent of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases have no known cause and that Steele and Karabadzhakyan have two different types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Thus, Modesto’s counsel argued that while PCBs can cause cancer, PCBs do not cause the particular disease that Steele and Karabadzhakyan have.