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DuPont ordered to pay $10.5 million in damages

A federal jury in Ohio has ordered Delaware-based chemical giant DuPont to pay $10.5 million in punitive damages to a man claiming the company caused his cancer.

The same jury awarded Kenneth Vigneron $2 million in compensatory damages last month, bringing the total payout to $12.5 million.

 

The Ohio resident lived only a few miles from DuPont’s Washington Works plant in Pakersburg, West Virginia. A federal study showed Vigneron’s drinking water had elevated levels of C-8, a toxic chemical used in DuPont’s production of Teflon.

 

Vigneron claimed successfully in federal court that these elevated levels of C-8 led to his kidney cancer diagnosis.

 

DuPont issued the following statement in the wake of the ruling:

 

"We are disappointed in the verdict, which we will appeal.  We believe the verdict was the result of trial rulings that misrepresented the findings of an independent science panel and misled jurors about the risks of C8 exposure."

 

 

The damages are likely to be paid by the chemical company Chemours, which spun off from DuPont last year and now operates the Washington Works plant.

 

Representatives from Chemours did not respond to a request for comment before the deadline of this story. 

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