Two Thyroid Cancer Victims Win $500,000
Two Thyroid Cancer Victims Win $500,000: "Two Thyroid Cancer Victims Win $500,000
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 19, 2005; 9:43 PM
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A federal jury awarded more than $500,000 Thursday to two thyroid cancer victims who blamed their disease on radiation from the government's Hanford nuclear installation, which made plutonium for bombs for four decades.
The jury deadlocked over whether another plaintiff's thyroid cancer was caused by Hanford radiation, and it ruled against three others with thyroid-related autoimmune diseases.
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The lawsuit was brought against three government contractors that ran operations at Hanford _ General Electric Co., DuPont Co. and UNC Nuclear Inc. But under law, the government will pay the damages and the costs of defending the contractors.
In their lawsuit, the six plaintiffs claimed that they were exposed to radiation during the 1940s when they were children living downwind from Hanford, near Richland.
Both sides claimed victory.
'The Department of Energy should take a hard look at this,' said plaintiffs' attorney Richard Eymann, who represents some 2,300 people with similar claims who lived in Eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon and north-central Idaho when plumes of radiation blew across the region.
Kevin Van Wart, whose law firm represented the contractors, said the six people in this case were the strongest of the potential plaintiffs. Van Wart also said that the awards _ $227,508 for Steve Stanton and $317,251 for Gloria Wise _ fell far short of the cost of bringing the case to trial.
Plaintiff Shannon Rhodes was shocked the jury deadlocked on her claim that her th"
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 19, 2005; 9:43 PM
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A federal jury awarded more than $500,000 Thursday to two thyroid cancer victims who blamed their disease on radiation from the government's Hanford nuclear installation, which made plutonium for bombs for four decades.
The jury deadlocked over whether another plaintiff's thyroid cancer was caused by Hanford radiation, and it ruled against three others with thyroid-related autoimmune diseases.
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The lawsuit was brought against three government contractors that ran operations at Hanford _ General Electric Co., DuPont Co. and UNC Nuclear Inc. But under law, the government will pay the damages and the costs of defending the contractors.
In their lawsuit, the six plaintiffs claimed that they were exposed to radiation during the 1940s when they were children living downwind from Hanford, near Richland.
Both sides claimed victory.
'The Department of Energy should take a hard look at this,' said plaintiffs' attorney Richard Eymann, who represents some 2,300 people with similar claims who lived in Eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon and north-central Idaho when plumes of radiation blew across the region.
Kevin Van Wart, whose law firm represented the contractors, said the six people in this case were the strongest of the potential plaintiffs. Van Wart also said that the awards _ $227,508 for Steve Stanton and $317,251 for Gloria Wise _ fell far short of the cost of bringing the case to trial.
Plaintiff Shannon Rhodes was shocked the jury deadlocked on her claim that her th"
posted by Greta Jane at Friday, May 20, 2005
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