JURY RULES IN FAVOR OF DUPONT IN ASCENSION PARISH CHEMICAL LEAK CASE

By TONI ELLINGTON

On January 23, 2015, a jury verdict was rendered in the False Claims Act case of Simoneaux, et al. v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Case No. 12-219-SDD-SCR, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana in Baton Rouge.  The jury found that whistleblower Jeffery M. Simoneaux, who was a safety operator at the E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company (“DuPont”) sulfuric acid chemical plant in Ascension, Parish had not sufficiently shown that leaks of alleged carcinogens from the DuPont plant posed a substantial health or environmental risk.

Simoneaux had claimed that DuPont failed to tell regulators about the leaks at the plant and then retaliated against him for reporting them. He worked for 22 years at the plant in Burnside, Louisiana, in Ascension Parish.  In the lawsuit, Simoneaux claimed that DuPont owed the U.S. government $25,000 for each day it had leaked sulfur trioxide in violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act.  Sulfur trioxide is a cancer-causing gas used in the manufacturing process at the plant.  Under the False Claims Act, Simoneaux would have received a share of any fines recovered on behalf of the government in the lawsuit if he had prevailed.

For more information, contact Toni Ellington at (504) 599-8500.