Johnnie Cochran settles record-setting $700 mil. pollution case

Jet, Sept 15, 2003

Atty. Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. recently settled what is considered the largest environmental pollution case ever, earning a whopping $700 million for 18,000 plaintiffs.

"I think this is the largest judgment of its kind in U.S. history," Cochran recently told JET. "It's more than twice what they got in the similar case against Pacific Gas & Electric in the Erin Brockovich movie. They got around $300 million."

The defendants in the case were Monsanto, Pharmacia and Solutia, Inc., companies that allegedly caused severe medical injuries to residents of Anniston, AL, from exposure to toxic chemicals at industrial sites owned by the companies.

The chemicals to which residents were reportedly exposed were polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs. Cochran said residents suffered from cancer, liver disease, neurological disorders and heart disease.

He said Judge U.W. Clemons, the federal judge in Birmingham, AL, who presided over the case, has set aside an additional $50 million for cleaning up the area.

Cochran called the settlement a "labor of love. It's a result of our efforts to fulfill those promises we made to the thousands of Anniston residents we met two years ago. We had vowed to do what we could to help clean up the Anniston, Alabama, community."

He said the case is ironclad and there will be no appeal because the companies agreed to the settlement. "They knew that I was prepared to go to court," he explained. "I'm committed to fighting these corporate giants. They came in and sat down at the table and it took three months. The word has gotten out that I don't play!"

He praised the other attorneys involved in the case from the Beasley Allen firm as well as Ted Wells, who represented the industrial companies.