Jury Finds DuPont Guilty of Negligence In West Virginia Industrial Waste Case

摘要

CINCINNATI-A West Virginia jury Oct. 1 found DuPont environmentally negligent for creating a 112-acre industrial waste site near the small town of Spelter, saying it posed both a public and private nuisance (Perrine v. DuPont, W. Va. Cir. Ct., Harrison Cty., No. 04-C-296, verdict 10/01/07). The site, contaminated with arsenic, cadmium, and lead, contained a zinc-smelting operation for decades until DuPont closed it in 2001 and initiated a comprehensive cleanup effort; in 2004, residents filed a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread injury from site pollution, asking for punitive damages, property damages, and long-term medical monitoring.