Homeowners who won a $926 million verdict against Dow Chemical and Rockwell International for radioactive contamination at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons production operation near downtown Denver are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to turn down Dow’s argument that federal law preempts their state nuisance claims.
The homeowners are fighting the appeal made by Dow and Rockwell whether the federal Price-Anderson Act preempts their claims. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last summer that the Act does not preempt nuisance claims. The two firms were sued over their operation of the nuclear weapons plant. Nearby homeowners showed where plant workers had disposed of radioactive waste onto the ground and the waste leached into close bodies of water. Dow and Rockwell maintained they were immune because of a “nuclear incident” but could not prove it.The contamination resulted in falling residential property values so homeowners sued and a jury awarded them $177 million in compensatory damages, $200 million in punitive damages and $549 million in prejudgment interest totaling nearly $1 billion.
On appeal, the Tenth Circuit said the trial court made the wrong judgment. When the case returned to trial court, Dow and Rockwell abandoned their claim under the Price-Anderson Act. The case returned to the appeals court where the Judges said if the companies could prove a “nuclear incident” they would be entitled to relief under the Act.
Dow and Rockwell took their case to the supreme court.
