DD DuPont de Nemours Inc

An Ohio woman seeking compensation for health problems allegedly caused by water contamination from chemical giant DuPont Co. is headed to trial this week, and its outcome could affect thousands of claims filed by other U.S. residents in a long-standing case.

The federal civil trial in Columbus, Ohio, will focus on 59-year-old Carla Bartlett, a Guysville, Ohio, resident who says she suffered kidney cancer as a result of a toxic chemical discharged by a DuPont plant in West Virginia into the drinking water of surrounding areas.

DuPont has denied liability for her illnesses.

Ms. Bartlett's case is the first of about 3,500 personal-injury claims filed against DuPont to head to trial, with jury selection expected to begin Monday.

The original class-action lawsuit was filed in 2001 by thousands of residents living in Parkersburg, W.Va., or near its plant there.

DuPont reached a settlement with the group in 2004 that included an agreement to pay for water filtration systems and a medical monitoring program to determine whether C-8 caused any adverse health effects.

Ms. Bartlett's case was selected to act as one of the bellwether trials that will determine how DuPont should proceed against the other individual plaintiffs, lawyers said.

Ms. Bartlett's lawyers allege in court documents that DuPont researchers knew about the potential toxicity of C-8—a chemical used to make Teflon products—since as early as the 1960s but failed to disclose the information to communities where DuPont plants were located.

Her lawyers claim DuPont misled the public about the health consequences of C-8 and even increased its usage despite knowing its effects.

DuPont also refused to install readily available technologies that could have reduced the amount of C-8 emitted into the air or water, Ms. Bartlett's lawyers alleged.

In an emailed statement, a spokesman for DuPont said the company believes Ms. Bartlett's exposure to C-8 "was insufficient to cause health problems."

DuPont's lawyers also have said in court documents that DuPont couldn't have foreseen any potential health risks to Ms. Bartlett because of limited medical and scientific knowledge available to the company at the time.

The company has worked with regulators and voluntarily created a global program to phase out the use of C-8, although the chemical "has been safely and widely used by many companies for decades," DuPont's spokesman said.

After a more than seven-year study, an independent panel of scientists found a likely link between C-8 exposure and six diseases, including kidney cancer and thyroid cancer, allowing plaintiffs with these diseases to file individual claims against DuPont.

Separately in 2005, DuPont paid $16.5 million to the Environmental Protection Agency to settle allegations that the company hid information on the health and environmental risks of C-8. DuPont said it didn't admit any liability as part of the settlement.

Write to Nicole Hong at nicole.hong@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2015 21:25 ET (01:25 GMT)

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