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.
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.
Bilott is currently prosecuting Wolf v. DuPont, the second of the personal-injury cases filed by the members of his class. The plaintiff, John M. Wolf of Parkersburg, claims that PFOA in his drinking water caused him to develop ulcerative colitis. That trial begins in March. When it concludes, there will be 3,533 cases left to try.
DuPont could argue — and had argued — that even if PFOA caused medical problems, it was only because factory workers had been exposed at exponentially higher levels than neighbors who drank tainted water. The gap allowed DuPont to claim that it had done nothing wrong.
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
DuPont later settled the litigation for $671 million, a result chronicled in a book Bilott wrote on the trial and a 2019 Hollywood film “Dark Waters,” starring actors Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway. Now Bilott, 56, is working on a real-life sequel.
$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.
In the first case, a jury ruled that DuPont was responsible for the kidney cancer of a plaintiff and ordered the company to pay $1.6 million in compensatory damages. In the second, a jury found that DuPont acted with malice and ordered the company to pay $5.6 million in punitive damages and compensatory damages.
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.
"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.
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.
As a result, DuPont is now required to pay for medical monitoring (testing) recommended for class members by the independent C8 Medical Panel. Also, if you are diagnosed with one of the six C8 linked diseases, a claim (lawsuit) for compensation may be pursued on your behalf against DuPont.
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.
Sign up to our free breaking news emails Judge Jan Jurden ruled Richards needed treatment and noted that child molesters are often targeted by other inmates in prison. Richards won't serve jail time unless he violates his probation.
In a follow-up case in 2017, he won a $671 million settlement on behalf of more than 3,500 plaintiffs in personal-injury claims against DuPont. And here's where the story could end, the hero with his fist aloft.
DuPont is one of the world's largest producers of chemicals and science-based products. In 2017, the company merged with Dow Chemical, forming a new company called DowDuPont (DWDP), of which DuPont continues to operate as a subsidiary.