Bhopal pollution case resurrected - November 05, 2008
An appeal court in the US has resurrected a case brought by victims of the Bhopal accident against Dow Chemical.
The court ruled that an earlier decision to throw out the case was wrong as the plaintiffs did not have “sufficient notice to allow them adequately to respond” to that decision.
In the 1980s Dow bought the Union Carbide company that was running a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India when a leak killed thousands and injured thousands more. In 1999 pollution detected on the site led to the current court case.
“We’re seeking cleanup, monitoring, and damages for personal injury to at least 20,000 individuals, and property damage,” says H. Rajan Sharma, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in an interview with Bloomberg.
“The Second Circuit did not discuss the merits of the case or the merits of the trial judge’s ruling of dismissal, and its decision should not be interpreted as a ruling on the merits,” a Union Carbide spokesman told Reuters.
