“Ohio’s attorney general on Thursday sued DuPont and its spin-off Chemours Co. for restitution and damages over the companies’ dumping of a toxic chemical from a plant in West Virginia.
In a 29-page complaint, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said DuPont had released the chemical, known as PFOA or C8, from its Washington Works plant in West Virginia into the Ohio River, contaminating the air, water and lands in neighboring Ohio for decades, despite knowing the danger that it posed…
DuPont and Chemours have agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to settle lawsuits related to the dumping, including a $670.7 million global settlement last February to extinguish 3,550 lawsuits in multidistrict litigation centered in Ohio.
As a part of that arrangement, DuPont and Chemours agreed to share costs resulting from environmental releases of C8 from the plant, as well as other potential C8-related liabilities that may arise in the future. Chemours, however, has refused to accept responsibility for punitive damages based on DuPont’s conduct…
The five-count lawsuit accuses DuPont of negligence, statutory and public nuisance and trespass. It seeks punitive and environmental damages, as well as a declaration of DuPont’s duty to compensate Ohio for expenses related to the contamination. The state is also seeking restitution damages for profits DuPont obtained through its production of C8.”
Read the full article by Tom McParland.