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Class Status Denied in Suit Against DuPont Over Chemical-Tainted Water

January 5, 2009

The use of medical monitoring as a remedy for mass exposure to toxic chemicals has suffered a setback in New Jersey.

 

A federal judge in Camden has denied class certification sought in behalf of 15,000 people whose drinking water may have been contaminated by a chemical spilled from DuPont’s Chambers Works in Salem County.

 

The plaintiffs want DuPont to pay for medical monitoring to provide early warning of health problems caused by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — used in the manufacture of nonstick cookware, microwave popcorn bags and other products — that seeped into the water of the Penns Grove Water Supply Co.

 

New Jersey courts have recognized medical monitoring as a remedy for groups of plaintiffs exposed to dangerous substances. It works unless there are so many significant individual issues that the case would break down into litigation of individual claims, the courts have said.

 

Read Article: Law.com

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Appeals may delay payments in pet food case

More than 23,000 pet owners in the United States have asked for money from a $24 million settlement for owners of dogs and cats who were sickened or died after eating pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical.

U.S. pet owners with claims were set to start receiving checks sometime in 2009, but their payments could be held up even longer while a judge sorts out last-minute appeals to the settlement filed by four people.

The legal snag pits lawyers against lawyers in a complex and emotionally fraught case.

“If one of their objections succeeds, the class comes unraveled,” said Kenneth A. Wexler, a Chicago lawyer involved in working out a settlement.

 

Read Article: Newsday

 

7-Eleven burritos recalled

A Denver firm has recalled about 172 pounds of burritos that may be contaminated with Listeria monocyto genes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Tuesday.

 

The recall by Home Fresh Sandwich Distributors Inc. involved 5.3-ounce packages of “7-Eleven Fresh to Go burrito with potatoes, bacon, eggs & Montery Jack cheese” with a best by date of “Thursday 1225.”

 

Consumers may have purchased these burrito products on Dec. 24 and 25. The food-safety service has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of this product.

 

Read Article: Denver Post

 

W.Va. judge OKs attorney fees in credit card suit

A judge has approved $3.9 million in payments to attorneys as part of West Virginia’s settlement with two credit card companies.

 

The state Attorney General’s Office last January announced a $12 million settlement of a lawsuit it filed against Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard (nyse: MA – news – people ) International Inc. But Ohio County Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson put a hold on payment of the fees and expense reimbursement to consider an objection from West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.

 

Wilson ruled Monday the fees were fair and reasonable.

 

Read Article: Forbes

 

Tenn. gov. promises more state oversight of ash spill cleanup, other TVA retention ponds

Tennessee’s governor promised greater oversight of coal ash retention ponds Wednesday after viewing damage from a spill that released more than a billion gallons of ashy sludge.

Gov. Phil Bredesen said he had no complaints with the cleanup process by Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the Kingston power plant where a pond burst last week and poured a mix of fly ash and water over 300 acres and into a river.

But Bredesen vowed state environmental regulators will be “looking over their shoulder.”

“Burning fossil fuel for electricity is a dirty business,” he said. “Everywhere this happens there are huge ash piles, there are environmental issues. My dream out of all of this is maybe this is an epiphany for TVA and for the country that some things have got to change.”

 

Read Article: Chicago Tribune

 

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