By LawInspectsDuPont Lawsuit involves the multinational chemical company, DuPont, and concerns allegations of PFOA pollution, a harmful chemical used in manufacturing Teflon until 2013. DuPont is a Delaware-based chemical company which is known for developing multiple types of polymers like teflon, neoprene, kevlar, mylar, lycra, nomek and more.
The first lawsuit against DuPont alleging PFOA pollution was filed in the year 1999. Thereafter, multiple individual lawsuits and a class action lawsuit alleging PFOA pollution by the company, leading to serious diseases, were filed over the years. In the year 2018, the State of Ohio also sued DuPont for PFOA pollution. There have been various settlements between DuPont and plaintiffs in numerous lawsuits till date.
Background of the Case
DuPont operates a manufacturing facility in Parkesburg, West Virginia. This facility manufactures Teflon, among other products. Till the year 2013, Perfluorooctanoic Acid or PFOA was utilized in manufacturing Teflon. PFOA, also known as Forever Chemicals or C8, is a harmful chemical and prolonged exposure to this chemical increases the risk of multiple kinds of cancer, such as thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer.
DuPont’s Parkesburg facility contaminated the local water supply with PFOA and also released the chemical into the atmosphere through its chimneys. Consequently, workers employed at the facility, families living the local area and communities living down the river were affected by PFOA pollution and claimed illnesses linked to the chemical.
Early Legal Action against DuPont
In the year 1999, the famous American environmental attorney, Robert Bilott, filed the first DuPont Lawsuit over PFOA pollution in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. He filed the lawsuit on behalf of Wilbur Tennant of Parkesburg, West Virginia. The lawsuit claimed that cattle belonging to Wilbur Tennant were dying as a result of exposure to PFOA, and the source was a landfill located upstream from Tennant’s farm where DuPont was dumping hundreds of tons of PFOA.
As per the lawsuit, DuPont was aware of the harmful effects of PFOA as far back as 1961, and by 1984, it knew about the presence of this chemical in the local water supply and the air in Parkesburg where its facility is located.
DuPont agreed to settle the lawsuit with Wilbur Tennant in the year 2001 by paying an undisclosed amount. However, Robert Bilott had uncovered incriminating information relating to PFOA pollution caused by DuPont. Thus, in August 2001, he filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of about 70,000 people living in those districts of West Virginia and Ohio where PFOA had contaminated the drinking water supply.
In September 2004, DuPont agreed to the settle the class action lawsuit by paying over $300 million in compensation. Furthermore, the company agreed to pay up to $235 million for medical monitoring of around 70,000 people residing in six water districts around the plant in Parkesburg.
An independent science panel was also set up under the agreement. This panel conducted blood tests of thousands of people living in the affected districts, and analyzed the results. Analysis revealed a probable link between PFOA presence in drinking water and pathological conditions like kidney cancer, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, testicular cancer and pre-eclampsia.
Later Lawsuits against DuPont
Robert Bilott started filing individual personal injury lawsuits against DuPont for PFOA related diseases, on behalf of people living in the affected districts of West Virginia and Ohio. By the year 2015, DuPont was facing more than 3500 individual personal injury lawsuits over allegations of causing PFOA pollution linked diseases.
In October 2015, a jury held DuPont responsible for the kidney cancer of a plaintiff living in Ohio due to the presence of PFOA in her drinking water, and ordered the company to pay $1.6 million in compensatory damages to her. In January 2017, a jury found that the plaintiff’s testicular cancer was caused by PFOA dumped by DuPont, and awarded $10.5 million in punitive damages to the plaintiff. In yet another personal injury lawsuit, the jury found that DuPont acted in malice and ordered the company to pay $5.6 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the plaintiff.
In February 2017, DuPont settled over 3500 personal injury lawsuits related to PFOA contamination in Parkesburg, West Virginia, for $671 million.
In the year 2018, the state of Ohio filed a lawsuit alleging that DuPont’s facility in Parkesburg, West Virginia, located just across the border from Ohio’s Washington County, caused PFOA pollution in Southeast Ohio. In December 2023, DuPont settled the lawsuit with Ohio for $110 million.