DuPont Loses Another PFOA Case
DuPont has lost another round in a string of pending or completed class action lawsuits involving discharges of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA or C8) from the US chemical giant’s Washington Works in Parkersburg, West Virginia, now owned by spin-off Chemours. The since phased-out chemical used to make the company’s Teflon brand non-stick fluoropolymer coating eventually found its way into drinking water reserves in the states of West Virginia and Ohio.
In the latest judgment, after less than a full day of deliberation, a jury in Columbus, Ohio, found DuPont responsible for negligence and ordered the company to pay $5.1 million in associated damages to a West Virginia man. In addition, the jury found actual malice, signaling that the company will also face punitive damages.
A trial to determine the amount of the damages was scheduled to begin on Jul. 7. Chemours had previously agreed to cover damages awarded in the trials, but a company spokesperson recently told US media that, as DuPont is the only named defendant in the lawsuits, the spin-off might disclaim responsibility.
The first C 8 test trial ended in October 2015 with an award of $1.6 million to an Ohio woman, Carla Marie Bartlett, who had kidney cancer. A second case was settled on undisclosed terms.
In the case just tried, David Freeman, who has lived near the Washington Works plant since 1993 and blames DuPont for his testicular cancer, claimed the company knowingly dumped the chemical into local waterways. “Their goal was to protect the Teflon brand at the expense of the community,” Freeman’s lawyer told the jury.
Altogether, the US group faces 3,500 suits from people who claim they or their family members suffered health problems from drinking water contaminated with C8 produced in the DuPont plant. In 2005, the company paid $16.5 million to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to settle allegations it hid information on health risks associated with C8, including studies that showed birth defects in children of its employees who drank from the same water supply.
