CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal appeals court today upheld a decision that rejected an effort by thousands of Parkersburg residents who drank polluted water to sue DuPont Co. in a class-action lawsuit.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal appeals court today upheld a decision that rejected an effort by thousands of Parkersburg residents who drank polluted water to sue DuPont Co. in a class-action lawsuit.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined a request by lawyers for the residents to review the earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin.
A one-page order turning down that request was entered Friday at the direction of appeals court Judge M. Blane<co > Michael. Judges Dennis W. Shedd and Allyson K. Duncan concurred.
In late September, Goodwin refused to certify a class of residents in a lawsuit that sought medical monitoring for C8-related illnesses for thousands of people who consumed contaminated water from the Parkersburg city water system.
Lawyers for the residents had argued Goodwin's ruling essentially overturned a controversial 1999 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed medical monitoring lawsuits. Such cases seek to force industry to fund testing to allow early treatment of any pollution-related diseases.
Business lobbyists, led by DuPont officials, have been trying for nearly a decade to get lawmakers to pass legislation to negate that ruling.
DuPont is appealing a nearly $400 million Harrison County jury verdict against it that included $130 million in medical monitoring costs. Last month, Monsanto Co. sought to move a medical monitoring case over pollution of the town of Nitro with dioxin to Goodwin's courtroom.
On Friday, DuPont spokeswoman Robin Ollis said the company is pleased with the appeals court decision in the C8 case.
"We agree with the court's ruling that there was no basis for appellate review of U.S. District Judge Goodwin's ruling," Ollis said in a statement e-mailed to the media.
The Parkersburg case is being closely watched around the country, as scientists continue to publish new studies that link C8 and a family of related chemicals to liver disease, elevated cholesterol levels and several types of cancer.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal appeals court today upheld a decision that rejected an effort by thousands of Parkersburg residents who drank polluted water to sue DuPont Co. in a class-action lawsuit.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined a request by lawyers for the residents to review the earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin.
A one-page order turning down that request was entered Friday at the direction of appeals court Judge M. Blane<co > Michael. Judges Dennis W. Shedd and Allyson K. Duncan concurred.
In late September, Goodwin refused to certify a class of residents in a lawsuit that sought medical monitoring for C8-related illnesses for thousands of people who consumed contaminated water from the Parkersburg city water system.
Lawyers for the residents had argued Goodwin's ruling essentially overturned a controversial 1999 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed medical monitoring lawsuits. Such cases seek to force industry to fund testing to allow early treatment of any pollution-related diseases.
Business lobbyists, led by DuPont officials, have been trying for nearly a decade to get lawmakers to pass legislation to negate that ruling.
DuPont is appealing a nearly $400 million Harrison County jury verdict against it that included $130 million in medical monitoring costs. Last month, Monsanto Co. sought to move a medical monitoring case over pollution of the town of Nitro with dioxin to Goodwin's courtroom.
On Friday, DuPont spokeswoman Robin Ollis said the company is pleased with the appeals court decision in the C8 case.
"We agree with the court's ruling that there was no basis for appellate review of U.S. District Judge Goodwin's ruling," Ollis said in a statement e-mailed to the media.
The Parkersburg case is being closely watched around the country, as scientists continue to publish new studies that link C8 and a family of related chemicals to liver disease, elevated cholesterol levels and several types of cancer.
DuPont is facing a similar lawsuit in New Jersey, and recently won an effort to block class action status for about two dozen state-level class-action lawsuits alleging that it covered up possible health dangers of using Teflon-coated cookware.
C8 is another name for ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or PFOA. DuPont has used the chemical since the 1950s at its Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg. C8 is a processing agent used to make Teflon and other nonstick products, oil-resistant paper packaging and stain-resistant textiles.
In September 2004, DuPont agreed to a $107.6 million settlement with residents of communities around Parkersburg. The money is funding two major studies of C8's health effects, and DuPont could be on the hook for another $235 million in medical testing costs if a link to illness is proven. DuPont also installed treatment systems to get the chemical out of local water.
At the time, C8 had not yet been found in the Parkersburg city water supply. Later, when the chemical was discovered there, a follow-up lawsuit was filed.
Goodwin ruled that lawyers for Parkersburg residents "presented compelling evidence exposure to C8 may be harmful to human health, and the evidence justifies the concerns expressed by plaintiffs in this case.'
But, the judge said, he remained unconvinced the lawsuit was proper for handling as a single class action, rather than many multiple individual lawsuits.
Lawyers for the residents argued in their appeal that Goodwin wrongly used federal court procedural rules to essentially eliminate West Virginia law that allows medical monitoring actions. They also argued that Goodwin determined that scientific risk assessments "can never be used to establish common exposure or assess risk to class members seeking medical monitoring, negating a broad-range of toxic tort class actions and conflicting with West Virginia law."
"If the trial court's errors are permitted to stand, it will be virtually impossible for injured parties to bring class actions for medical monitoring in West Virginia federal courts, even though such classes are certified in state court," the residents' lawyers argued.
Technically, Friday's ruling turns down only the residents' request for the 4th Circuit to hear an appeal of Goodwin's class-action ruling in expedited fashion. The residents could still file a regular appeal, but would have to wait until the case works its way through Goodwin's courtroom first.
Also, Goodwin left open the possibility in his ruling that the residents could amend their lawsuit to try to bring a separate claim that the C8 pollution by DuPont created a public nuisance.
@tag:Reach Ken Ward Jr. at
kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702
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In the meantime, hapless residents of Parkersburg, bath in, cook with, and drink water from their taps laced with this extraordinarily toxic Teflon chemical and likely carcinogen fraught with a myriad of health dangers?!
Where's justice? Where's the redress for regular citizens' claims? Certainly no protection offered from the politicians of West Virginia running the state regulatory agencies, nor in the Bush business-friendly EPA, nor for that matter in the federal courts, and certainly not the Governor's Office!
...funfun..