Agent Orange suit fails

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 8

Agent Orange suit fails

NZPA ; New York An American Federal Appeals Court has dismissed a class-action suit filed on behalf of hundreds of Vietnam war veteran’s exposed to the .defoliant Agent Orange. In a 2-1 decision, the second United States Circuit Court of Appeals said that Federal common law would not cover the suit. The suit claimed that five major manufacturers of. the defoliant were liable for bilions of dollars in damages

because of ady.erae toxic effects oh servicemen and their . offspring allegedly caused by exposure to Agent Orange, a mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,’4-D. The plaintiffs also purported to represent the 2.4 million veterans who served in South-East Asia from 1962 to 1971, in addition to rriost of their families or survivors who might be at risk because of future effects of Agent Orange. They were seeking to have the manufacture of Agent Orange banned and to have

its manufacturers set up a trust fund to cover individual claims.

The multi-district litigation started with a few individual actions in late 1978 and eventually mushroomed into claims on behalf of 800 named plaintiffs from 25 Federal judicial districts across the nation.

The defendant companies, Dow Chemical, Diamond Shamrock, Monsanto, Thompson-Hayward Chemical, and Hercules, all denied the allegations in the complaint.