Posted: 08 Apr 2010 01:04 AM PDT
On this day in ...... 1985 (25 years ago today), India sued in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to recover damages from the Union Carbide Corp., owner of the pesticide plant (left) in Bhopal where a gas leak 3 months earlier, "the worst industrial accident in history, killed about 1,700 people and injured as many as 200,000 more." (photo credit)Sought were not only damages to compensate victims and pay for the costs of emergency relief, but also punitive damages in order, the suit said,
'to deter Union Carbide and any other multinational corporation from the willful, malicious and wanton disregard of the rights and safety of the citizens of those countries in which they do business.'
The litigation eventually moved to India, where, in 1989, the Supreme Court of India approved a $470 million settlement.
(Prior April 8 posts are here, here, and here)
