DuPont Appeal before West Virginia Supreme Court

A group of West Virginians who won nearly $400 million in damages in a DuPont pollution case are getting their chance to ask the West Virginia Supreme Court for a little more.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear a motion Sept. 9 asking judges to hear an appeal that seeks to reinstate 300 people to a property cleanup plan that would cost DuPont an additional $5 million. The plaintiffs contend a Harrison County judge erred in keeping the additional property owners out of the cleanup near a former zinc-smelting plant in Spelter.

The trial judge ruled the land owners were bound by valid and enforceable settlements they signed in 1928 with Grasselli Chemical Co., a forerunner of a DuPont chemical department.

The motion, which DuPont opposes, is separate from the company’s appeal of the case.