BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug.21 (UPI) – A $600 million settlement ahs been reached in two 30-yearld cases involving contamination claims of 20,000 Alabama residents. The claims were filed long ago by residents of Anniston against three once-related companies: Solutia, Inc., Monsanto Co. and Pharmacia, a division of Pfizer, Inc. Perhaps for the first time, a state circuit judge joined a U.S. District Judge on his bench to rule together Wednesday on a historic umbrella deal covering the two cases over contamination by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, the St. Louis Globe Dispatch reported. As the agreement was announced, the lawyers gave the judges a standing ovation. Jere Beasley, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said he believed it to be the largest toxic tort settlement ever reached in this country. The settlement includes $300 million for each case to compensate residents for their injuries, pay attorneys’ fees and set up and fund a medical clinic in Anniston.