Class Action Finder

In Parkersburg, West Virginia, a toxic water contamination case caused by chemical corporation DuPont Co. has been brewing since the discovery of C8 in the city’s public water supply.

It eerily recalls the movie Erin Brockovich where Julia Roberts played a single mum and legal assistant who brought down a Californian power company for polluting a city’s water.

DuPont has used C8 for the production of Teflon in its Washington Works plant in south Parkersburg for 50 years. Teflon is best known for its use in nonstick cooking utensils and it is also used in manufacturing waterproof clothing, stain-repellent carpeting and ball-bearing lubricants.

C8 is a name for toxic chemical perfluorooctanoate, and is also known as perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. In recent years, C8 has come under fire by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Environmental Working Group.

A federal judge says he needs more information before he decides if a lawsuit over C8 contamination of Parkersburg’s city water supply can proceed as a class action.

U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin says he need more information before certifying the lawsuit as a class action. The hearing is set for July 2, 2008 for testimonies from expert witnesses on the possible health hazards of C8 exposure.

Thousands of people stand to become plaintiffs if Goodwin gives the go ahead for this case to be a class-action lawsuit.

This is not the first time that DuPont has come under scrutiny for C8. In a previous case in 2005, DuPont made a $107.6 million settlement with thousands of Parkersburg residents although it appeared that the city’s water had harmless amounts of C8.

But a year later, there was a discovery that C8 levels in Parkersburg water were above acceptable levels. Therefore in May 2006, three residents filed a lawsuit and requested it to be certified as a class action. The lawyers for these plaintiffs requested for the class period to start from Nov 1, 2005. They are seeking compensation for medical monitoring and provision for water treatment or alternative water supplies from DuPont.

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Categories: Environmental
Tags: toxic chemicals, water contamination