As you may be be aware, Dow Chemical/ Union Carbide are still embroiled in a number of legal cases surrounding the Bhopal Disaster. Dow chooses to maintain that a ‘full and final settlement’ was made, back in 1989, but that is simply not true and there have now been important developments in two of the outstanding cases.
Curative Petition
A ‘curative petition’ will be heard in India’s Supreme Court. It aims to address inadequacies within the 1989 civil settlement (U.S. $470 million) and a hearing date has been set for September 2nd 2014. </br></br>
The Indian government is seeking an additional amount of up to $1.24billion, based on higher figures for the dead and injured, but the Bhopal survivors groups are quoting the Government of India’s own previously published numbers, which are considerably higher, and would raise the required settlement amount to $8.1billion.
Criminal Case
Union Carbide (US) has never answered the criminal charges outstanding against it. The charges are very serious, being of ‘culpable homicide’. Since the 2001 takeover, Dow Chemical has been refusing to present Union Carbide to the courts. The Chief Judicial Magistrate in Bhopal has now issued a summons to Dow Chemical requiring it to explain why Union Carbide has repeatedly ignored its own summons to the criminal court.
We hope that the summons will be accepted, in the very near future, and, if so, this court hearing might take place within the next three months.
Share this:
