Monsanto Settles Suit for $250,000

Monsanto Co. agreed Monday to pay $250,000 in civil penalties to settle a consumer protection lawsuit in which the Orange County district attorney’s office alleged that the company sold defective home garden care products.

Monsanto did not admit any liability in connection with its Greensweep products, but it agreed to pay the costs of the investigation and also agreed to a court order barring it from engaging in fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices.

Monsanto had cooperated in the investigation and had ordered distributors to remove remaining products from store shelves.

The prosecutor’s consumer protection unit had asserted in its civil suit that Greensweep products were sold in plastic containers with defective valves prone to be forcibly ejected by the water pressure of a garden hose.

Warnings about the danger also were deceptive and misleading because they failed to advise consumers of the risks, the suit alleged.