Toxic Chemical C8 Personal Injury Lawsuits Filed

October 29, 2012 — Three people have filed C8 personal injury lawsuits against DuPont, the chemical company that leaked massive amounts of the toxic chemical C8 into the groundwater in Ohio and West Virginia.

As part of a settlement agreement DuPont reached with more than 70,000 class action members in 2005, people who suffered diseases that have been linked to C8 may be eligible to file an individual personal injury lawsuit against the company.

The lawsuits were filed in West Virginia, in Wood County Circuit Court. Two involved personal injury claims and one involved a wrongful death claim. The plaintiffs are Virginia Morrison, who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of her late husband, who died of kidney cancer in 2008. The two other civil actions were filed by Scott Blackwell and Sandra Tennant, involving claims of thyroid disease and ulcerative colitis.

The individual personal injury lawsuits are separate from the class action lawsuit against DuPont. When DuPont agreed to settle the class action lawsuit in 2005, they also agreed to establish a three-person C8 Science Panel to investigate potential links between C8 exposure and health risks. The panel published four “Probable Link” reports, which associated C8 to several health problems, including:

• High cholesterol
• Kidney cancer
• Testicular cancer
• Thyroid disease
• Inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis)
• Preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy)
• And more

People who were exposed to contaminated ground water for at least one year prior to December 3, 2004 in any of six affected water districts may be eligible to file a personal injury lawsuit against DuPont if they developed any of the health complications listed above.