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News :: Environment |
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$600 Million Settlement In Alabama PCB Pollution Case |
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by s.m.
(No verified email address) |
20 Aug 2003
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Monsanto Company has announced that it will pay at least million dollars to settle a major class action lawsuit for PCB pollution in Anniston, Alabama. |
$600 million settlement in Alabama PCB pollution case
Monsanto Company has announced that it will pay at least million dollars to settle a major class action lawsuit for PCB pollution in Anniston, Alabama. The settlement means an end to the lengthy process formerly underway of awarding damages individually to 20,000 plaintiffs in a state case. It will also avert a federal trial that had been set for this fall. In February 2002 a jury found Monsanto liable on all charges related to its extreme pollution of Anniston with toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from the 1930s through the early 1970s. Monsanto will pay 390 million dollars in cash and its spinoff company Solutia will pay 50 million dollars. The rest will be covered by their insurance. The settlement includes funds for cleanup costs, a laboratory to research PCBs, and, essential to the plaintiffs, a medical clinic with health monitoring and a prescription drug plan for those suffering illnesses related to the pollution. The the courts had previously awarded $100 million in damages in the case. Solutia stated this settlement would help it to avoid bankruptcy which it had claimed was possible due to the PCB liabilities.
more information: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&q=monsanto+anniston+
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