Tuesday, November 23, 2010
DuPont Offers To Settle Spelter Case
WEST VIRGINIA....
DuPont has offered to pay $70 million and spend millions more on medical monitoring for the next 30 years to end a legal battle DuPont has been appealing since a 2007 jury verdict ordered the company to spend $130 million on medical monitoring for some 8,500 people and $55.5 million to clean up properties contaminated with arsenic, cadmium and lead from a former zinc-smelting plant in Spelter. The proposed settlement would wipe out a $196 million punitive damage award DuPont has also been fighting.. The proposal must be reviewed by the members of the class-action case, who can raise objections at a fairness hearing set for December 30th in Clarksburg. Of the $70 million on the table, $4 million would be set aside for cash payments to people who are eligible for medical monitoring. The remaining $66 million would cover the cost of cleaning up properties, launching the medical monitoring program, paying attorneys and paying the plaintiffs in amounts to be determined later. The plaintiffs' lawyers are seeking two-thirds of that money. $30 million to cover their fees and $11 million in expenses they incurred pursuing the case. People will have six months to sign up for the medical monitoring program.
DuPont has offered to pay $70 million and spend millions more on medical monitoring for the next 30 years to end a legal battle DuPont has been appealing since a 2007 jury verdict ordered the company to spend $130 million on medical monitoring for some 8,500 people and $55.5 million to clean up properties contaminated with arsenic, cadmium and lead from a former zinc-smelting plant in Spelter. The proposed settlement would wipe out a $196 million punitive damage award DuPont has also been fighting.. The proposal must be reviewed by the members of the class-action case, who can raise objections at a fairness hearing set for December 30th in Clarksburg. Of the $70 million on the table, $4 million would be set aside for cash payments to people who are eligible for medical monitoring. The remaining $66 million would cover the cost of cleaning up properties, launching the medical monitoring program, paying attorneys and paying the plaintiffs in amounts to be determined later. The plaintiffs' lawyers are seeking two-thirds of that money. $30 million to cover their fees and $11 million in expenses they incurred pursuing the case. People will have six months to sign up for the medical monitoring program.# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:04 PM 
