A Near-Record Verdict

A Harrison County jury reached a series of verdicts this month totaling nearly $400 million against DuPont in a case targeting its former zinc-smelting plant near the community of Spelter.

The last damage award, as The Associated Press' Vicki Smith reports, topped $196 million and is meant to punish the chemical giant for conduct the jury concluded was "wanton, willful and reckless."

The AP's Smith has offered comprehensive coverage of the multi-phase trial, including earlier damage awards, the verdict ordering 40 years of "medical monitoring" for the plaintiffs, and the reaction by state environmental officials to the case's underlying allegations of harmful exposure to a "massive toxic waste pile."

(The state's record judgment, at least in recent memory, was the $405 million verdict in a Roane County gas royalties dispute.)