Since 1951, DuPont has been manufacturing PFOAs, a non-degradable chemical linked to several serious human diseases. In 2001, a family living near a DuPont dump site in Parkersburg, in the Eastern US state of West Virginia filed suit alleging DuPont had dumped more than 7,100 tons of PFOA sludge on to their property, causing serious health effects in the plaintiff’s family and surrounding community. After this case settled, a class action case was filed on behalf of 80,000 people living in districts where PFOA had leaked into their water supply. The case relied on a variety of claims under state tort law in West Virginia. This class action settled for $235 million and funded an independent science panel to study the health side effects of PFOA. Since then, more than 3,500 class action lawsuits have been brought in West and Virginia and Ohio alone. 

The Resource Centre's case profile for this lawsuit is here.

This research was completed solely by LIDS with support from Orrick.