Robert Bilott | |
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Alma mater | New College of Florida (BA) Ohio State University (JD) |
Occupation | Environmental lawyer |
Known for | Class action lawsuit against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs from Parkersburg, West Virginia |
Spouse(s) | Sarah Barlage ( m. 1996) |
very, very thorough.’’ He was a model Taft lawyer. T hen Wil bur Tennant came along . T he Tennant case put Taft in a highly unusual position. T he law firm was in the business of representing chemical corporations, not suing them. T he prospect of taking on DuPont ʻʻdid cause us pause,’’ Terp concedes.
Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he took on an environmental suit that would upend his entire career — and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html. From the article: "This advisory level, if indeed announced, might be a source …
Jan 10, 2016 · The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare. Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he. and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution. Just months before Rob Bilott made partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, he received a call on his direct line from a cattle farmer.
Jul 10, 2019 · The Associated Press The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A top environmental lawyer, the inspiration for a film starring Mark Ruffalo, has a book coming about his 20-year battle with DuPont. Rob...
His litigation efforts yielded more than $671 million dollars in damages for approximately 3,500 people. DuPont also settled with the EPA, agreeing to pay a mere $16.5 million fine for failure to disclose their findings about C8, a toxin that is now estimated to be present in 98 percent of the world's population.Jul 12, 2021
It wouldn't surprise anyone that a lawyer dogged as Bilott is continuing the same work. He remains at the same law firm he began at, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, having become a partner back in 1998.Nov 22, 2019
'' Bilott filed a federal suit against DuPont in the summer of 1999 in the Southern District of West Virginia.Jan 10, 2016
Millions of Americans might someday benefit from a class action lawsuit filed against manufacturers of forever chemicals by Rob Bilott, the Cincinnati lawyer made famous by the movie “Dark Waters.” The Taft Law partner won a $671 million settlement on behalf of 3,500 plaintiffs who alleged chemical giant DuPont ...Apr 2, 2020
Bilott serves on the board of directors for Less Cancer, the board of trustees for Green Umbrella, and served on the alumni board for New College of Florida from 2018-2021.
Bilott's health has taken a battering too. A mysterious neurological disorder struck him in 2008. He suffered tremors and a palsy on his right side which turned into violent shaking convulsions up and down the right side of his body.
How accurate is the film's version of events? Both the events of the movie and the characters represented in it are all very closely based on the real story. The film originated from a 2016 New York Times article about the case. Mark Ruffalo read the story and immediately bought the rights for the film.Mar 5, 2020
Dark Waters mostly stays true to the real story The script is based on the 2016 New York Times article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare," written by journalist Nathaniel Rich.May 31, 2021
The Parkersburg facility was owned by DuPont until it spun off its chemical division into Chemours, in 2015.Oct 26, 2020
The Todd Haynes-directed movie Dark Waters, now playing in theaters, tells the story of how the lawyer, played by Mark Ruffalo, switched allegiances. As happened in real life, the movie depicts Ruffalo’s Bilott as a lawyer who defends large chemical companies before he is approached for help in 1998 by Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), ...
Philippe Grandjean, a professor of environmental health at Harvard, conducted a study that appeared to suggest that babies exposed to PFAS could suffer impaired immune-system development. “I fell off the chair,” says Dr. Grandjean. “When I looked at those data it was mind-boggling.”.
He works, at first, on Tennant’s behalf, then pursues a class action suit representing around 70,000 people living near a chemical plant that allegedly contaminated drinking water with PFOA, a toxic chemical used in the production of Teflon.
R ob Bilott, a corporate lawyer-turned-environmental crusader, doesn’t much care if he’s made enemies over the years. “I’ve been dealing with this for almost three decades,” he says. “I can’t really worry about if the people on the other side like me or not.”
PFAS chemicals are used in products ranging from waterproof jackets to shaving cream, and they can leach into water supplies in areas where they are disposed of or used in fire suppression (in particular on military bases, where they have been used for years ).
government regulators that P FAS exposures were harmless.
According to Bilott’s complaint, studies currently suggest that PFAS is present in the blood of around 99% of Americans. The class of chemicals has broadly been linked to immune system disruption, while PFOA specifically has been found to be associated with cancers and other diseases.