Appeal delays Agent Orange payout

Press, 1 September 1986, Page 2

Appeal delays Agent Orange payout

NZPA-AAP New York Australian and New Zealand soldiers who served in Vietnam and sued over their exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange, will have to wait longer for their share of an out-of-court cash settlement

A United States appeals court has held up all payments which were about to be made under a court-approved plan to split up the $370 million fund provided by seven chemical companies which manufactured Agent Orange. '

The chemical companies agreed in May, 1984, to pay the' money to avoid further legal, action against them for manufacturing a defoliant which contained toxic by products believed to have caused numerous health problems among soldiers who came in contact with it

Australian and New Zealand veterans were to get a small fixed percent-

age of the funds before the end of this year. But lawyers for the 250,000 American, Australian and New Zealand plaintiffs argued recently that the distribution plan did not connect the veterans’ ailments to their exposure to Agent Orange, thus avoiding a key claim by the veterans. Federal District Judge Jack Weinstein, who approved the original settlement, had decided that it was too difficult to connect Agent Orange illnesses and health problems to exposure to the defoliant.

. He ordered that payments to veterans be based on the degree of disability, regardless of the cause. It is not certain whether the plaintif appeal was upheld because of serious doubts about the original distribution plan or merely because the appeals court wanted more time.to review the case.