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Jury awards $1.6 million in bellwether case claiming DuPont contaminated Ohio River

An Ohio woman was awarded $1.6 million yesterday in a lawsuit alleging DuPont Co. contributed to her cancer by contaminating the Ohio River, the Associated Press reported.

Carla Bartlett’s case was one of two that could influence thousands more from people living along the river at the Ohio-West Virginia border. About 3,500 people from the Mid-Ohio Valley in Appalachia say they were sickened by DuPont’s discharge of perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as C8, into their drinking water. C8 is used to make Teflon.

Bartlett, of Guysville, Ohio, has kidney cancer. At the three-week trial, her attorneys argued that C8 contamination contributed to that diagnosis. They argued that C8 is “bio-persistent,” meaning it stays in the bloodstream long after contamination. DuPont knew that, they said, but showed “conscious disregard” for the community by downplaying or hiding its effects.

DuPont attorneys argued at trial that it was not responsible for Bartlett’s cancer. Workers drank the same water as residents, the company argued, and of the eight employees diagnosed with cancer in 1989, only one had done substantial work with C8.

DuPont expects to appeal. A spokesman says the fact that Bartlett was not awarded punitive damages is a victory, signaling that the jury believed DuPont never consciously disregarded its neighbors.

The other bellwether plaintiff is John Wolf, who alleges that C8 caused his ulcerative colitis. In July, Law360 (sub. req.) reported that Wolf’s trial was set for Nov. 30.

The lawsuit is the latest in a lengthy history of litigation over C8 contamination in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Eighty thousand people from the area sued DuPont in 2001, eventually winning a settlement requiring DuPont to clean up the water as much as possible, fund research into whether C8 causes cancer and pay for medical tests. Researchers reported in 2011 and 2012 that C8 likely is linked to at least six diseases, including kidney cancer and ulcerative colitis, according to Law360.