"Federal Court Affirms Dismissal of C8 Claims"

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal appeals court has upheld two decisions that threw out most of a lawsuit field against chemical giant DuPont Co. by Parkersburg [WV] residents over the pollution of their city's water with the toxic chemical C8.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed the rulings made in October 2008 and September 2009 by Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin.

Goodwin had declined to allow the case to proceed as a class action and, in a second decision, dismissed claims of negligence, nuisance, trespassing and battery.

In a 17-page opinion, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan concluded that the presence of C8 in plaintiffs' blood -- and the potential risk to human health from that condition -- did not satisfy the 'injury' requirement under West Virginia law."

Ken Ward Jr. reports for the Charleston Gazette April 12, 2011.