DuPont wins battle against dioxin lawsuit

BILOXI, Miss., June 12 (UPI) -- A Mississippi jury has found DuPont Co. is not liable for the death of an 8-year-old girl who had liver cancer and heart problems.

Kerman and Naomi Ladner of DeLisle, Miss., sued the company for $30 million, alleging dioxin from the DuPont plant near their home caused their daughter's death, The (Biloxi, Miss.) Sun Herald said Tuesday.

The DeLisle facility is the second-largest titanium dioxide maker in the country, the newspaper said.

The jury found DuPont "negligently released dioxins and arsenic from the DeLisle facility" but did not link the release to the death of the Ladners' daughter, the newspaper said.

It was the second of nearly 2,000 similar lawsuits to make it to trial.

A Bay St. Louis oysterman was awarded $14 million in damages in 2005 after concluding dioxins from the DeLisle plant did cause his rare blood cancer.