| Dow seeks
further delay in dioxin case |
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| Kathie Marchlewski , The Midland Daily News | 11/19/2003 |
| Attorneys for The Dow
Chemical Co. say they haven’t been provided with the information needed to defend
against the potential class-action lawsuit pending in Saginaw County Circuit Court. Of 179 plaintiffs signed on to the suit seeking property values and medical monitoring after the Tittabawassee River was deemed contaminated with dioxin, only a few dozen have provided information to Dow for use when it opposes class certification at the Jan. 28 hearing. The company has asked Saginaw Circuit Court Judge Leopold Borrello to extend scheduled proceedings to later than mid-February. It would be the third time a class certification hearing has been delayed. Borrello last month delayed the timetable for consideration from the scheduled Dec. 18 date. It first was scheduled for Nov. 18. In the request for more time, Dow attorneys told Borrello that as of Monday morning, they had received only three pieces of paper from plaintiffs who agreed to provide home appraisals and information about the value of their homes, any insurance claims they have made and correspondence regarding the dioxin matter. Later Monday, attorneys were given about two inches of documents, but still nothing from more than 150 of the plaintiffs. All information is due to Dow by Dec. 1. The company complains in its request that it was promised that as information was gathered, it would be presented on a weekly basis. More than a month passed without any production at all. Plaintiffs attorneys see Dow’s latest request as a delay tactic. Information has not been as readily available as had been expected, said lead counsel Jan Helder. "For us it’s a practical issue of gathering information from 179 people," he said. Plaintiffs’ busy schedules also have been a challenge, though attorneys have been working days and evenings to gather the documentation, Helder added. He said Dow will have the promised information by Dec. 1, which is Borrello’s deadline. Despite the agreement to produce requested documents, Helder said that in his opinion, much of it is irrelevant to the case. "None of this bears in any way on the class certification issue," he said. Borrello has agreed that much of the plaintiffs’ information requested by Dow is not necessary for him to determine class certification. |
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| İMidland Daily News 2003 | |
For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawasse River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.