Court denies bid to dig into Ualbany researcher’s case

University’s Senate likely to pursue why Carpenter was targeted

ALBANY — A Missouri court has rejected an emergency motion filed earlier this month by attorneys for Monsanto Co., who had asked to reopen pretrial discovery in a pollution contamination case filed by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe so the company could learn more about a recently concluded disciplinary investigation of Dr. David O. Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany.

The dismissal of that motion keeps the case on schedule for a jury trial that is set to begin March 28 in St. Louis. Carpenter is serving as an expert witness for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which is suing the company and its corporate successors, including Solutia, Inc., and Pharmacia LLC.

The tribe alleges its members have increased risks of cancer and other diseases due to PCB exposure from eating fish taken from contaminated waters. The pollution is alleged to have come from Superfund sites adjacent to the sprawling Akwesasne tribal lands that straddle the U.s.-canadian border in northern New York.

Last week, the university announced that Carpenter would not face discipline and “is no longer on an alternate assignment and may now teach and conduct research on campus.”

The university’s announcement came as Carpenter received increasing support from environmental advocates to be reinstated. He was directed last year not to visit any campuses and to perform his duties from home as the school investigated his extensive work testifying as an expert witness in toxic pollution cases.

Attorneys for a law firm that represents Monsanto said they learned about the university’s investigation of Carpenter from a Feb. 5 story published in the Times Union that reported the renowned PCB researcher had been quietly placed on “alternate assignment” nine months ago.

Monsanto’s attorneys said that when they deposed Carpenter in April, a month before he was placed on “alternate assignment” by Ualbany, they were unaware of the pending disciplinary investigation and “did not have the opportunity to inquire about the investigation at that time.”

“Since his deposition in this case, Dr. Carpenter has provided sworn trial testimony in two cases against Monsanto and sworn deposition testimony in two cases against Monsanto — never once mentioning the disciplinary investigation the university was conducting into his research and/or funding that lead to him to be placed on restricted duties and instructed not to visit any campuses,” the motion stated.

Attorneys for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe responded with a motion asking for Monsanto’s request to be rejected.

“Defendants should not be allowed to reopen discovery just because their interest was piqued by a newspaper article,” the tribe’s attorneys wrote in their motion. “Deadlines would be meaningless if every time opposing parties ‘dug up’ something on an opposing expert or witness prior to trial the parties were entitled to take another deposition.”

They also cast the information the company is seeking about the 86-year-old public health physician as “immaterial” and asserted that his placement on “alternate assignment” is not considered discipline. A “special master” appointed by the court where the case is filed rejected the company’s motion on Monday but provided no explanation for the decision.

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018 for $66 billion, issued a statement to the Times Union three weeks ago alleging the revelations about the disciplinary investigation of Carpenter raised questions because they contend he was using money from his testimony as an expert witness to support research programs at Ualbany — something the university has been aware of for years and that Carpenter has disclosed in prior testimony.

Carpenter has for decades conducted extensive research on PCB contamination from a General Motors Foundry Site in Massena, St. Lawrence County, that closed in 2009. The plant was directly adjacent to the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne, and Carpenter’s research included health studies of the Mohawks and animal toxicology studies examining the effects of PCBS on the nervous, immune and endocrine systems.

Two other aluminum foundries in that area also were blamed for leaking PCBS into the St. Lawrence River from hydraulic fluids they used.

Carpenter became the subject of a disciplinary investigation last year after a Freedom of Information Law request was filed by an attorney with Shook Hardy & Bacon, a Missouri law firm that represents Monsanto Company in toxic pollution cases it has faced across the nation.

Carpenter, who said he donates the money he receives from his expert testimony to PH.D. students and the university’s research program, has testified against Monsanto in numerous “toxic tort” cases — in which plaintiffs allege injuries from toxic substances — that have yielded multi-milliondollar verdicts against the company.

The university’s Senate may conduct an investigation of the school’s handling of Carpenter’s situation. A group that promotes environmental integrity among public employees filed a complaint last week urging that panel to investigate what it called “wrongful retaliatory actions” against Carpenter.

The complaint filed Feb. 21 by the Maryland-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility alleged Carpenter was subjected by university officials to “conduct that has restricted his academic freedom and freedom of expression.”

The university issued a statement later that day saying Carpenter’s case had been closed and “no discipline will be imposed.”