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DuPont Is Ordered to Pay
$196.2 Million in Dumping Case
Associated Press
October 19, 2007 | pdf »
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. -- DuPont Co. was ordered Friday to pay $196.2 million in punitive damages for deliberately dumping dangerous heavy metals on an industrial site, ending a complex trial involving property damage claims, long-term health screenings and corporate accountability.
The lawsuit accused DuPont of deliberately dumping toxic arsenic, cadmium and lead on the site of a former zinc-smelting plant, leaving thousands of residents in and around the small town of Spelter in fear for their health.
Ten Harrison County residents who sued DuPont won the first phase of their case Oct. 1, when jurors found the chemical company liable for and negligent in creating the waste site. They also found DuPont had created a public and private nuisance and that its pollution trespassed onto private property.
In the second phase of the trial, the jury required DuPont to provide medical monitoring for 40 years to people who were exposed to the arsenic, cadmium and lead. Judge Thomas Bedell will determine how the plan will be administered.
On Monday, jurors decided DuPont should pay about $55.5 million to clean up private properties.
DuPont said it would appeal the decision.
"We are extremely disappointed by the outcome of the Spelter case. With today's decision, DuPont believes it has been unfairly punished for doing the right thing for this property and this community," the company said in a statement.
DuPont lawyer Jeffrey Hall also said he was displeased with the verdict.
"DuPont last owned this property in 1950. Forty-six years later, DuPont came back. It alone, among all the prior owners of this property, worked with the DEP, cleaned up the property, and helped the community," he said. "We will appeal."
Following the conclusion of the fourth and final phase of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs _ hugging each other and their lawyers _ celebrated with a cake in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Plaintiff Waunona Crouser said the three years since the class-action lawsuit was filed have been stressful but she never doubted the 11-member jury would do the right thing.
"They're West Virginians and that's how we are in the state of West Virginia. We watch each other's backs. We don't let people do this to us."
$196.2 Million in Dumping Case
Associated Press
October 19, 2007 | pdf »
 |
|
The lawsuit accused DuPont of deliberately dumping toxic arsenic, cadmium and lead on the site of a former zinc-smelting plant, leaving thousands of residents in and around the small town of Spelter in fear for their health.
Ten Harrison County residents who sued DuPont won the first phase of their case Oct. 1, when jurors found the chemical company liable for and negligent in creating the waste site. They also found DuPont had created a public and private nuisance and that its pollution trespassed onto private property.
In the second phase of the trial, the jury required DuPont to provide medical monitoring for 40 years to people who were exposed to the arsenic, cadmium and lead. Judge Thomas Bedell will determine how the plan will be administered.
On Monday, jurors decided DuPont should pay about $55.5 million to clean up private properties.
DuPont said it would appeal the decision.
"We are extremely disappointed by the outcome of the Spelter case. With today's decision, DuPont believes it has been unfairly punished for doing the right thing for this property and this community," the company said in a statement.
DuPont lawyer Jeffrey Hall also said he was displeased with the verdict.
"DuPont last owned this property in 1950. Forty-six years later, DuPont came back. It alone, among all the prior owners of this property, worked with the DEP, cleaned up the property, and helped the community," he said. "We will appeal."
Following the conclusion of the fourth and final phase of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs _ hugging each other and their lawyers _ celebrated with a cake in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Plaintiff Waunona Crouser said the three years since the class-action lawsuit was filed have been stressful but she never doubted the 11-member jury would do the right thing.
"They're West Virginians and that's how we are in the state of West Virginia. We watch each other's backs. We don't let people do this to us."