Property owners in the US state of Michigan have won what is being called a” key decision” against Dow Chemical in their long-running litigation over dioxin contamination along the Tittabawassee River in the eastern part of the state, which dates back several decades.

While Dow argued that the statute of limitations in the case had expired because the public became aware of dioxin pollution in the river in the 1980s, the state Court of Appeals ruled 2 to1 on Jun. 2 that the property owners did not wait too long to sue the chemical producer.

In this case, the judges determined the key date to be 2002, when Michigan’s environmental authorities reported high levels of dioxin in the flood plain in Saginaw County.

The lawsuit just heard was filed a year later, and upholding the preceding county court decision, the appeals judges said the case was brought within a key three-year period. 

"Plaintiffs' damages, including the loss of the use and enjoyment of their property and depreciation of their property values, arose from the harm of dioxins in their soil reaching potentially toxic levels but did not exist in any tangible form until the (state) published its 2002 notice," the court noted.

Initially, a class action suit, the litigation against the chemical producer headquartered in Midland, Michigan, has since been broken down into separate lawsuits by 43 property owners.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they expect Dow to appeal judgments against it to the state supreme court.