Saturday, January 30, 2016

COURT ORDERS DUPONT TO GO TO TRIAL 40 TIMES A YEAR TO FACE THOUSANDS OF TOXIC CHEMICAL VICTIM LAWSUITS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chemical maker DuPontwill face 40 trials a year starting April 2017 involving plaintiffs who say they developed cancer from a toxic chemical used to make Teflon that leaked from one of the company’s plants in West Virginia.
The schedule laid out by U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus in the Southern District of Ohio during a hearing Wednesday is aimed at pushing the parties closer to resolving more than 3,550 lawsuits.
The outcome could have a material impact on Chemours Co, since liability for litigation connected with the chemical C-8 was passed on to the firm spun-off by DuPont in 2015.
The cases have been filed by individuals who say they developed one of six diseases linked to perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as PFOA or C-8, which was found in their drinking water. Their cases are consolidated before Sargus.
The initial 40 trials will be selected from between 250 and 300 lawsuits brought by individuals who say they contracted kidney or testicular cancer from C-8.
"People shouldn’t have to wait ten years for a trial," Sargus said, according to a transcript of the hearing.

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