A circuit judge has upheld a $196.2 million punitive damages award against E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. (DD) in a class-action pollution case.Harrison County Circuit Court Chief Judge
Thomas A. Bedell also ordered the
Wilmington, Delaware-based chemical giant on Monday to set aside nearly
$130 million for a medical monitoring plan. Bedell said the plan would be operated on a pay-as-you-go basis but
DuPont
must put the total amount in an escrow account.The jury in the case required
DuPont
to provide medical monitoring for 40 years to people who were exposed to arsenic, cadmium and lead from a former zinc-smelting plant in the small community of Spelter.
Bedell appointed attorney
Edgar C. Gentle III as administrator of the medical monitoring plan. Gentle is a managing partner in Gentle, Pickens and Turner, a law firm in
Birmingham, Ala., which is the escrow agent for a breast implant global settlement, according to the firm’s Web site.Ten residents of Spelter sued
DuPont
in 2004, claiming the company deliberately misled them about health risks from the pollution and delayed a site cleanup for as long as possible to maximize profits.
The lawsuit was tried last year in four phases involving property damage claims, long-term health screenings and corporate accountability. Jurors awarded the punitive damages in October in the trial’s fourth phase.
In the other phases, the jury required medical monitoring and found DuPont liable for and negligent in creating the waste site. Jurors also found DuPont had created a public and private nuisance and that its pollution trespassed onto private property.
On Monday, Bedell approved $127 million in attorneys fees and nearly $8 million in litigation costs, which will be taken from the overall award of $381 million. He rejected DuPont’s motion for a new trial.
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