Agent Orange makers lose legal round

Press, 29 February 1984, Page 11

Agent Orange makers lose legal round

NZPA-AP Washington Manufacturers of the controversial herbicide Agent Orange, have lost a preliminary legal round in the Supreme Court. The justices, in effect, said a big class action lawsuit against the manufacturers may go to trial on May 7. The suit charges that the herbicide, used extensively by the United States military in Vietnam, caused cancer, birth defects and numerous other illnesses for millions. The Court, without comment, rejected arguments that Judge Weinstein, who is to preside over the trial in New York City, exceeded his authority in ordering the

lawsuit to proceed on behalf of all people possibly harmed by the herbicide. Potentially included in the class of plaintiffs are millions of individuals — including veterans of the United States, Australian and New Zealand Armed Forces who served in Vietnam from 1961 to 1972, as well as their spouses, parents and children. The suit charges that exposure to dioxin contained in Agent Orange caused great harm to human health. Judge Weinstein said he would allow such a large class of plaintiffs because, in part, a single, class-wide determination of the issue of causation will focus the attention of Congress, the

Executive Branch and the Veterans’ Administration on their responsibility, if any, in this case. After the second United States Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Weinstein’s class-action ruling last January 9, five chemical companies that manufactured the herbicide for the Government, sought help from the Supreme Court. The chemical companies’ lawyers said the ruling is not based on fundamental legal precepts but on broad considerations of policy that are more properly matters for congressional action. They called Judge Weinstein’s ruling a sweeping distortion of Federal court rules.