U.S. residents can sue for nuke exposure, says court

[Susan L Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

U.S. residents can sue for nuke exposure, says court 

By Reuters

Wednesday, June 19, 2002



SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court Tuesday ruled thousands of

Washington state residents could sue over illnesses blamed on a Cold

War plutonium plant, reversing a lower court dismissal of most of the

claims. 



The ruling rebuffs defense lawyers' efforts to limit damage awards

against contractors who operated the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the

most highly contaminated nuclear site in the United States, which

spewed radiation as it produced fuel for U.S. atomic weapons as far

back as 1943. 



Many of the plaintiffs claimed radiation had caused thyroid cancer, as

well as bone, breast, and salivary cancer. Damage awards could reach

tens of millions of dollars. 



The defendants include several industrial companies that ran the plant

until 1986, including General Electric Co. and DuPont Co. "We are of

course disappointed. We are studying the ruling, and we are not sure

exactly where we will go from here," defense lawyer Randy Squires said

of the 12-year-old case. 



Hanford, a former nuclear weapons production site in south-central

Washington state, released radioactive materials into the air, water,

and soil, sometimes intentionally and sometimes by accident, according

to Washington state health officials. 



Many of those who lived downwind from Hanford or who used the

Columbia River downstream were exposed to radiation that could cause

illness at some point in their lives, state officials said. 



The appeals court panel in San Francisco overturned a ruling by Judge

Alan McDonald in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington that

would have eliminated claims of about 90 percent of some 4,000

plaintiffs from southeast Washington and nearby Oregon and Idaho. 



On Tuesday the appeals court lowered the amount of exposure to

radiation required to prove physical harm, thereby allowing thousands

to sue, but also limited damages for emotional distress to only those

plaintiffs who had actually been made sick. 



Defense lawyers could ask for a hearing before the full appeals court or

appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. 



Barring settlement talks, plaintiffs' attorneys were preparing to seek

class certification for their clients and to present their full case

before

the circuit court. "We are looking at another year of development and

preparation, but who knows what could happen to this case in that

time," said plaintiffs' attorney Tom Foulds. 



Both sides said the case could go on for several more years. 



"It's hard to see how this decision brings the outcome closer," Squires

said. "If you have to look at each one of one of these claims, it's

going

to take some time." 



The federal government has begun cleaning up or stabilizing some of

the Hanford waste. 



Copyright 2002 — Reuters



-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

We've moved!  Please note our new address:

102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830

.....................................................

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/