USA govt to pay up for victims of Hanford Nuclear radiation

The government indemnified the contractors, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. and General Electric Co., and is on the hook for their legal fees (which now total about $60 million), and damages. …..Plaintiffs contend that the radiation caused cancer and other illnesses, including hypothyroidism,

After Two Decades of Litigation, Energy Department Settles 139 Hanford Radiation Claims, BLT – THE BLOG OF LEGAL TIMES, JULY 13, 2011 The Department of Energy has tentatively agreed to settle 139 suits brought by people who claim that radiation from the now-shuttered Hanford Nuclear Reservation gave them thyroid disease.

The plaintiffs will receive an average of about $5,700 apiece, for a total settlement of just under $800,000, according to lead defense counsel Kevin Van Wart, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. About 1,350 plaintiffs still remain in the litigation, In re Hanford Nuclear Reservation, which has been pending in Spokane federal court for 21 years, as previously reported by The National Law Journal.….

The settlement resolves the largest number of claims to date in a case that has looked intractable for years. Plaintiffs lawyers—there are about half a dozen calling the shots—have spent close to $10 million out-of-pocket to litigate personal injury claims against the contractors who ran the plant….

The government indemnified the contractors, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. and General Electric Co., and is on the hook for their legal fees (which now total about $60 million), and damages. …..

The Hanford plant in southeastern Washington state produced most of the material for the United States’ arsenal of nuclear bombs, including the one dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. It also released huge amounts of radiation, sometimes intentionally, primarily between 1944 and 1950.

Plaintiffs contend that the radiation caused cancer and other illnesses, including hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid is under-active, causing symptoms like fatigue, depression and weight gain……

A trial before Judge William Fremming Nielsen in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington is scheduled for April 30, 2012, for about 20 hypothyroid plaintiffs chosen by lottery.

Trials are also in the works for about 35 thyroid-cancer cases and 50 cases involving thyroid nodules—solid or fluid-filled lumps that form within the thyroid—with dates to be determined….

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/07/after-two-decades-of-litigation-energy-department-settles-139-hanford-radiation-claims.html?cid=6a00d83451d94869e2015433b28d23970c

July 14, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA

1 Comment »

A human life is valued at $ 5,700… Hanford ruined my life and health and I didn’t even get anything.
We live in an evil world. Please do note that the leaks were not accidental. Everyone in my family is
dead or dying from thyroid disease. The government murdered not only the enemy, but their own citizens.
They just keep litigating until the last plaintiff dies. Only Almighty Yahweh is fair. Yah bless…

Comment by Pamela Hahn | September 18, 2011 | Reply

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