CHEMOURS: Who Picks up the Tab for Any Damages Awarded in PFOA Lawsuits?

摘要

Chemours immediately issued a pressrelease, briefly refuting Citron's claims and drawing attention to its projected earnings targets and its aim to reduce its leverage ratio to 3.0 in the medium-term. Nevertheless, the acidic tone of the Citron report affected investor sentiment and provided an over-pessimistic backdrop for evaluating the ramifications of an adverse verdict in the case of David Freeman vs. DuPont (Case reference 2:13-cv-1103) in the US District Court, Southern Ohio, presided over by Judge Edmund Sargus. Mr Freeman claimed that PFOA discharged from the Washington plant had been a factor causing his testicular cancer. The case opened on 31 May 2016 and the jury's verdict was announced on 6 July. DuPont was ordered to pay $US 5.1 million as compensatory damages to Mr Freeman. Two days later, it was determined that DuPont must pay $US 500,000 in punitive damages plus defence attorneys' fees. DuPont promptly announced that it will appeal against the verdict, but Chemours' share price dropped below the $US 6.00 mark at the close of trading on 6 July.