Child death trial against DuPont pushed back to May
Published 7:25 pm Tuesday, August 22, 2006
A Mississippi couple’s lawsuit claiming that dioxins from DuPont’s plant on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are responsible for the death of their daughter has been pushed back to May.
Originally set for this week, the Ladners’ case would have been the second of nearly 2,000 lawsuits filed against DuPont DeLisle to make it to trial.
DuPont lawyers and the Ladners’ legal team agreed to a continuance.
Kerman and Naomi Ladner of DeLisle filed the lawsuit after their 8-year-old daughter, Haley, died in July 2000 of liver cancer. She also had heart problems, and, according to lawsuit, the Ladners claim both conditions were caused by dioxins released from DuPont’s DeLisle plant.
The DeLisle facility is the second-largest titanium dioxide maker in the U.S.
DuPont officials say science doesn’t support the Ladners’ claims and the company plans to use several expert witnesses in hopes of refuting the accusations.
Last year, a Jones County jury awarded Glenn Strong, a Bay St. Louis oyster fisherman, $14 million in damages for his claim that dioxins from the plant caused his cancer. DuPont has filed a motion for a new trial in the Strong case.