Word: bhopal
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Doctors in Bhopal were growing increasingly concerned about the long-term effects of the chemical. Many of the early victims of the poison gas were suffering from secondary infections, especially pneumonia. Even soldiers who had arrived in the city 30 hours after the gas escaped began to develop swollen eyes and debilitating coughs. Indeed, at times last week it seemed that the Bhopal tragedy might never end. When refugees from the city arrived in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, they were suspected of carrying fatally contagious diseases. In many cases, family and friends shunned them. -By Pico Iyer...
...survivors barely had time to mourn when suddenly there they were: American lawyers. Looking for business. They courted Indian legal experts over leisurely meals in New Delhi's finest hotels. They culled documents at makeshift relief offices outside the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, seeking the names of potential clients. Their motives, the U.S. lawyers insisted, were pure. As Melvin Belli, the flamboyant San Francisco attorney sometimes called the "King of Torts," put it, somewhat inelegantly, "I am here to bring justice and money to those poor little people who have suffered at the hands of those rich sons...
...lawyers, who under standard contingency-fee arrangements in the U.S. can earn 30% of the awards they win in a personal-injury case, are hoping to turn the Bhopal gas leak into the most profitable disaster ever. Mega-claims have already been brought against Union Carbide in a number of U.S. jurisdictions where the company does business. Belli is seeking $15 billion in a class action filed in Charleston, W. Va. The Santa Monica, Calif., law firm Gould & Sayre has put in a $20 billion class-action claim in New York City. Coale & Associates of Washington expects to represent thousands...
...prove carelessness on the part of Union Carbide. But more appealing is the doctrine of strict liability, under which negligence need not be proved. Said Belli: "It doesn't matter that you didn't intend to bring harm. What matters is that it happened. In this Bhopal case we can damn well prove that it happened." His plan: "We'll have videotape of all those poor bastards who are sick and dying. We will have a brochure on every single person who was killed...
Before U.S. jurors and judges see such grim testaments of the tragedy, however, the question of jurisdiction must be resolved. The American lawyers representing Bhopal clients argue that suits can be brought in the U.S. because Union Carbide India is 51% owned by the Union Carbide Corp. of the U.S. and is thus an agent of the parent firm. The U.S. corporation, they further contend, is responsible for the Indian plant's design and safety program. Cautioned Hoyt, who has represented Union Carbide in other matters: "Just because you have equity in a company doesn't mean that...