Final Hanford Downwinders Case Dismissal Appealed
Dismissal of the final claim from the 1991 Hanford Site downwinders litigation has been appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals after U.S. Disgtrict Judge William Fremming Nielsen moved to declare all claims resolved and close the case. Nielsen dismissed the claim filed by the estate of Frieda Seaman, saying it had not been active in recent years. It was the only claim to be put forth after Nielsen asked for any objections to closing out the long-running litigation to be filed. At one time there were as many as 5,000 claims in the case, but all but the Seaman claim have settled, been withdrawn, or been dismissed. In addition, six of the claims went to trial to help give attorneys more information to reach settlement agreements. Claims that went to trial were for cancerous and noncancerous thyroid disease, which plaintiffs linked to radioactive iodine released from Hanford stacks to drift downwind in the 1940s and 1950s. Defendants in the case are early Hanford contractors DuPont, General Electric, UNC Nuclear Industries, Atlantic Richfield, and Rockwell International. They are indemnified by the federal government.
