DuPont Must Pay $55 Million for Cleanup of Structures

The Cochran Firm, with 21 locations nationwide

By Thom Weidlich
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- DuPont Co. must pay $55.5 million to remove hazardous substances near a waste pile created by a West Virginia zinc-smelting facility, a jury said, opening the door to a possible punitive damage award against the company.
The verdict today in Clarksburg, West Virginia, followed an Oct. 1 finding by the state court jury that DuPont, the third- largest U.S. chemical maker, negligently created the 60-acre pile including arsenic, lead and cadmium in the town of Spelter. The jury said Oct. 10 that DuPont must pay for medical monitoring of about 8,000 residents. Today, in the third phase of the trial, it ordered the company to remove waste from homes and businesses.
``We must do a thorough remediation of these homes, as thorough as we can, so that we can prevent further exposure,'' Kirk Brown, an environmental expert for the residents, told the jury of 10 women and one man during the trial. DuPont spokesman Tim Ireland said the company will ``continue to present evidence in this case'' and declined to comment further.
DuPont's loss means the trial will move tomorrow to a fourth phase on potential punitive damages. In the first phase, the jury said that, while other companies affiliated with the plant contributed to the pollution, Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont is liable for 100 percent of the damage. In the second phase, the jury ordered it to pay for medical monitoring.
Criminal Charges
DuPont today said the U.S. Department of Justice won't pursue criminal charges against the company for the use of a chemical found in drinking water, also in West Virginia.
Andrew Ames, spokesman for the Justice Department, confirmed the letter was sent. ``We have completed a review of information made available to us and we will not be pursuing criminal charges at this time,'' Ames said.
Plaintiffs' lawyer Mike Papantonio said today's verdict in the waste pile case is ``a model that should be used by environmental lawyers all over America to gain control over renegade corporations,'' referring to allowing juries to use state law to address environmental damage.
The panel deliberated for seven hours before reaching today's verdict.
The trial's third phase, on property remediation, started Oct. 11. The plan calls for homes to be emptied and cleaned, especially attics, and for new air-conditioning ducts to be installed, Brown said. Soil also will be replaced at homes nearest the waste pile. The process would take about two weeks for each home.
Cost For Cleaning
Brown estimated the cost for cleaning the entire area -- with 2,159 houses, 457 trailer homes and 205 businesses -- at $62.9 million. The cost to DuPont under the $55.5 million verdict comes to an average of about $19,700 per structure.
``None of these numbers have been challenged by DuPont,'' plaintiffs' lawyer Farrest J. Taylor told the jurors in his opening statement, referring to a breakdown of the total money figure. ``DuPont says no remediation is necessary.''
Taylor said the project would take 2 1/2 years to complete.
``It'll be an intensive process, yes, more than has been done elsewhere, but I think there's plenty of evidence that it's needed,'' Brown testified.
``Essentially, we want to remove, to the greatest extent possible, the soil and the dust -- get it out of there,'' Brown testified. ``And anything we can't remove, we'll seal.''
DuPont bought the site of the 100-foot waste pile in 1899 for a gunpowder plant, according to court records. Residents said zinc operations since 1910 produced water pollution and dust that subjected them to risk of neurological diseases and cancer.
`Furthest Area''
``Most of these funds have been allotted to the furthest area from the plant, where there has been the least testing,'' DuPont lawyer Jeffrey Hall told jurors in his closing argument for the property-remediation phase.
The jury today awarded nothing for the residents' and business owners' ``annoyance and inconvenience'' for having to have their houses and businesses fixed.
DuPont lawyer David Thomas told jurors the company has been cleaning the waste site, capping it with a liner and seeding topsoil.
DuPont shares rose 31 cents to $49.37 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Dow Chemical Co. is the largest U.S. chemical maker, followed by Exxon Mobil Corp.
The case is Perrine v. E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., CA04-C-296-2, Circuit Court of Harrison County, West Virginia (Clarksburg).