$670 Million Settlement Ordered For DuPont, Chemour Chemical Spill

Companies DuPont and Chemour recently agreed to pay $670.7 million in order to settle 3,550 lawsuits in a multidistrict litigation related to the dumping of a toxic chemical, known as C8, into the Ohio River near a former DuPont factory in West Virginia.

According to Delaware Law Weekly, the companies announced the settlement in separate press releases. According to the statements, “DuPont and Chemours will split the cash payment evenly to extinguish all claims pending in an Ohio federal court.”

Neither company admitted that they did any wrongdoing in their respective statements. Though it had been named as a defendant in the litigation, Chemours “was likely on the hook to pay some of DuPont's legal costs, thanks to a separation agreement it signed when it was spun off from DuPont in 2014.”

DuPont said in the filing that “the settlement is not subject to court approval, and both sides have agreed to draft a master settlement agreement to ‘address the timing and logistics of the settlement payment.’” The master agreement, the company said, is expected to include a "walk-away" right that will allow DuPont to end the settlement if a certain number of plaintiffs decide that they do not wish to participate.

As a part of the settlement, Chemours will pay nearly $25 million each year for the next five years in order to cover C8 liabilities outside of the settlement, and DuPont would pick up any expenses in excess of $25 million.

After five years, “Chemours' indemnification obligations under the separation agreement will continue unchanged, and DuPont retains no commitment to fund C8-related costs, the company said. DuPont's settlement payment is not subject to indemnification by Chemours,” DuPont said.

Chemours has also agreed “not to contest its liability to DuPont for punitive damages, fines, penalties or attorney fees. It did, however, reserve the right to challenge whether a particular C8 claim falls within the scope of indemnification provisions in the separation agreement.”

"We are pleased to have reached a mutually satisfactory resolution for all parties that brings this matter to a close," DuPont said in a prepared statement provided by a spokesman.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, Lawrence Moody said he is satisfied that he and 3,550 other people are finally getting justice.

"You just can't do that to people," Moody said.

Moody's lawyers argued that DuPont covered up that the chemical was toxic. The chemical had entered into the air and Ohio River from DuPont's Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg, West Virginia, since the 50s. The lawyers said the company knew since 1980 that it caused cancer in rats.

"It took away having the option to protect my family, not knowing, 'Should you drink the water or not?'," Moody, 57, who has testicular cancer, told The Columbus Dispatch.

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