the lawyer who became dupont's worst nightmare b

Who was DuPont’s worst nightmare?

Robert Bilott '83, Attorney Who Became ‘DuPont’s Worst Nightmare’ to Speak at New Topics Discussion - New College of Florida Skip to main contentSkip to site alert New College of Florida Search Search Submit Quick Navigation Menu Visit Apply You are here: Home New College News

Who was the lawyer for DuPont?

In August 2000, Bilott called DuPont’s lawyer, Bernard Reilly, and explained that he knew what was going on. It was a brief conversation. The Tennants settled.

What was the lawsuit filed against DuPont in 1999?

Bilott filed a federal suit against DuPont in the summer of 1999 in the Southern District of West Virginia. In response, DuPont’s in-house lawyer, Bernard Reilly, informed him that DuPont and the E.P.A. would commission a study of the property, conducted by three veterinarians chosen by DuPont and three chosen by the E.P.A.

Why did Dupont settle the Tennants case?

After Bilott discovered that thousands of tons of DuPont's PFOA had been dumped into the landfill next to the Tennants' property and that DuPont's PFOA was contaminating the surrounding community's water supply, DuPont settled the Tennants' case.

What is Rob Bilott doing now?

Robert Bilott is a partner at the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio where he has practiced environmental law and litigation for more than twenty-eight years.

How much did Rob Bilott make from DuPont settlement?

$671 million dollarsHis 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.

Who was the lawyer against DuPont?

Dubbed by The New York Times Magazine as “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare” in an article published on Jan. 6, 2016, Bilott has represented a diverse array of clients, nationwide, who have been harmed by PFAS substances.

What did Rob Bilott do?

Rob has gained international prominence in connection with uncovering and disclosing the world-wide impact of environmental contamination by the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances), particularly PFOA and PFOS.

Is Rob Bilott still suing DuPont?

Bilott is known for the lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs from West Virginia. Bilott has spent more than twenty years litigating hazardous dumping of the chemicals perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)....Robert BilottSpouse(s)Sarah Barlage ​ ( m. 1996)​Children35 more rows

How true is the movie Dark Waters?

Dark Waters mostly stays true to the real story "Dark Waters" is extremely accurate when compared to the true events, which makes it all the more upsetting. The script is based on the 2016 New York Times article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare," written by journalist Nathaniel Rich.

What happened to the lawyer in Dark Waters?

And now, Robert Bilott's story is the focus of the film Dark Waters, in theaters on November 22. 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.

Is C8 still in Teflon?

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8, is another man-made chemical. It has been used in the process of making Teflon and similar chemicals (known as fluorotelomers), although it is burned off during the process and is not present in significant amounts in the final products.

Did anyone go to jail from DuPont?

Du Pont died in prison while serving a sentence of thirty years for the murder of Dave Schultz. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Who does Robert Bilott work for?

Robert Bilott is a partner at the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio where he has practiced environmental law and litigation for more than twenty-eight years.

Did Wilbur Tennant get money from DuPont?

Wilbur Tennant and his wife, Sandra, won a legal settlement from DuPont two years ago after they accused the company of sickening their family and killing their cattle by dumping C8 into a landfill near their farm.

Does DuPont still sell Teflon?

DuPont agreed to casually phase out C8 by 2015. But it still makes Teflon. DuPont replaced C8 with a new chemical called Gen-X, which is already turning up in waterways.

Who sold Dupont land?

Jim Tennant and his wife, Della, sold DuPont a 66-acre tract of land that became part of the Dry Run Landfill. Credit Bryan Schutmaat for The New York Times

Where is Dupont's chemical site?

The chemical site near Parkersburg, W.Va., source of the waste at the center of the DuPont class-action lawsuit. Credit Bryan Schutmaat for The New York Times

What did Bilott see in the video?

Bilott watched the video and looked at photographs for several hours. He saw cows with stringy tails, malformed hooves, giant lesions protruding from their hides and red, receded eyes; cows suffering constant diarrhea, slobbering white slime the consistency of toothpaste, staggering bowlegged like drunks. Tennant always zoomed in on his cows’ eyes. ‘‘This cow’s done a lot of suffering,’’ he would say, as a blinking eye filled the screen.

Who is Rob Bilott?

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.

How many cows did Wilbur Tennant have?

Wilbur Tennant explained that he and his four siblings had run the cattle farm since their father abandoned them as children. They had seven cows then. Over the decades they steadily acquired land and cattle, until 200 cows roamed more than 600 hilly acres. The property would have been even larger had his brother Jim and Jim’s wife, Della, not sold 66 acres in the early ’80s to DuPont. The company wanted to use the plot for a landfill for waste from its factory near Parkersburg, called Washington Works, where Jim was employed as a laborer. Jim and Della did not want to sell, but Jim had been in poor health for years, mysterious ailments that doctors couldn’t diagnose, and they needed the money.

How much did Dupont settle for?

USA: DuPont settles 3550 claims over illnesses linked to pollution for $671 million

Is Dupont a merger with Dow Chemical?

DuPont, which is currently negotiating a merger with Dow Chemical, last year...[spun off] its chemical businesses...into a new corporation called Chemours....[which] has replaced PFOA with similar…compounds designed to biodegrade more quickly... Like PFOA, these new substances have not come under any regulation from the E.P.A. ...Chemours [says]...: ‘‘A significant body of data demonstrates that these alternative chemistries can be used safely.’’

Who are the Duponts?

Comment: Duponts are one of 13 Satanic Illuminati crime families strong in the United States.

What did Bilott see in the video?

Bilott watched the video and looked at photographs for several hours. He saw cows with stringy tails, malformed hooves, giant lesions protruding from their hides and red, receded eyes; cows suffering constant diarrhea, slobbering white slime the consistency of toothpaste, staggering bowlegged like drunks. Tennant always zoomed in on his cows’ eyes. ‘‘This cow’s done a lot of suffering,’’ he would say, as a blinking eye filled the screen.

How many cows did Wilbur Tennant have?

Wilbur Tennant explained that he and his four siblings had run the cattle farm since their father abandoned them as children. They had seven cows then. Over the decades they steadily acquired land and cattle, until 200 cows roamed more than 600 hilly acres. The property would have been even larger had his brother Jim and Jim’s wife, Della, not sold 66 acres in the early ’80s to DuPont. The company wanted to use the plot for a landfill for waste from its factory near Parkersburg, called Washington Works, where Jim was employed as a laborer. Jim and Della did not want to sell, but Jim had been in poor health for years, mysterious ailments that doctors couldn’t diagnose, and they needed the money.

Who is the lawyer for Dupont?

Bilott is known for the lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs from West Virginia. Bilott has spent more than twenty years litigating hazardous dumping of the chemicals perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS).

What was the cause of the Dupont lawsuit?

After Bilott discovered that thousands of tons of DuPont's PFOA had been dumped into the landfill next to the Tennants' property and that DuPont's PFOA was contaminating the surrounding community's water supply, DuPont settled the Tennants' case. In August 2001, Bilott filed a class action lawsuit against DuPont on behalf of the approximately 70,000 people in West Virginia and Ohio with PFOA-contaminated drinking water, which was settled in September 2004, with class benefits valued at over $300 million, including DuPont agreeing to install filtration plants in the six affected water districts and dozens of impacted private wells, a cash award of $70 million, and provisions for future medical monitoring to be paid by DuPont up to $235 million, if an independent science panel confirmed "probable links" between PFOA in the drinking water and human disease. After the independent scientific panel jointly selected by the parties (but required under the settlement to be paid for by DuPont) found that there was a probable link between drinking PFOA and kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, pre-eclampsia, and ulcerative colitis, Bilott began opening individual personal-injury lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of affected users of the Ohio and West Virginia water supplies, which by 2015 numbered over 3,500. After winning the first three for $19.7 million, in 2017 DuPont agreed to settle the remainder of the then-pending cases for $671.7 million. Dozens of additional cases filed after the 2017 settlement were settled in 2021 for an additional $83 million (announced in conjunction with a $4 billion settlement between DuPont and its spin-off, Chemours, over PFAS liabilities), bringing the total settlement value in the personal injury cases for those exposed to PFOA in their drinking water to over $753 million.

Where did Bilott start his law practice?

Bilott was admitted to the Bar in 1990 and began his law practice at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio For eight years he worked almost exclusively for large corporate clients and his specialty was defending chemical companies. He became a partner at the firm in 1998.

Who represented Wilbur Tennant?

Bilott represented Wilbur Tennant of Parkersburg, West Virginia whose cattle were dying. The farm was downstream from a landfill where DuPont had been dumping hundreds of tons of perfluorooctanoic acid. In the summer of 1999, Bilott filed a federal suit against DuPont in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. In response, DuPont advised that DuPont and the United States Environmental Protection Agency would commission a study of the farmer's property, conducted by three veterinarians chosen by DuPont and three chosen by the Environmental Protection Agency. When the report was released, it blamed the Tennants for the dying cattle claiming that poor husbandry was responsible: "poor nutrition, inadequate veterinary care and lack of fly control."

Who is Robert Bilott?

Robert Bilott is the author of the acclaimed memoir Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer's Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont, published in 2019 by Atria Books. The audio book version (also available through Atria Books) is narrated by Jeremy Bobb with the first chapter narrated by Mark Ruffalo.

Who conducted the study of the farmer's property?

In response, DuPont advised that DuPont and the United States Environmental Protection Agency would commission a study of the farmer's property, conducted by three veterinarians chosen by DuPont and three chosen by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Who plays Bilott's wife in Dark Waters?

Bilott's story also became the basis for Dark Waters, a 2019 film starring Mark Ruffalo as Bilott, and Anne Hathaway as Bilott's wife, Sarah Barlage.