DUPONT MUST PROVIDE MEDICAL MONITORING IN NEW HAZARDOUS WASTE CASE

(10/11/2007)
DuPont has been ordered to repeat a level of medical monitoring, similar to that required in their C-8 contamination case in the Mid-Ohio Valley, this time in Harrison County.

A jury says DuPont must provide medical monitoring for thousands of residents who were exposed to contamination from a Harrison County waste site.

DuPont denies any wrongdoing.

Yesterday's verdict came in the second phase of the trial of a class-action lawsuit filed by 10 residents of Spelter in Harrison County.

The lawsuit accused DuPont of deliberately dumping dangerous heavy metals on an industrial site in the Town of Spelter.

According to The Exponent-Telegram in Clarksburg, the jury found that routine medical screenings are needed because arsenic, cadmium and lead at the site are hazardous to human health or carcinogenic.

DuPont spokesman Tim Ireland says a Harrison County Circuit Court judge will determine the scope, cost and duration of any health screenings.

Spelter residents won the first phase of their case October 1st, when jurors found DuPont liable for and negligent in creating the hazardous waste site.

A third phase of the lawsuit will address property damage claims.

The final phase will address whether DuPont's conduct merits punitive damages.