A federal judge granted more than $ 680,000 to 17 families who say they were Leakage From the fuel tank in the second world in the war to the US naval drinking system in Hawaii In 2021.
BellWether cases have developed the legal tone of 7500 military family members, civilians and service members whose lawsuits are still awaiting the decision.
The American boycott judge, Leslie Cobiashi, submitted the ruling on Wednesday, granting from $ 5,000 to more than 104,000 dollars per prosecutor. In its arrangement, Kobayshi wrote that it was clear that although contaminated water could have caused many types Medical problems The military families witnessed, there was not enough evidence to prove the existence of a direct link.
The army built Red Hill fuel tanks on the side of Jabal in the early 1940s to protect them from the air attack. The site was in the hills over Pearl Harbor and at the head of the groundwater layer equipped with wells that provide drinking water for the navy and the municipal water system in Honolulu.
In 2021, jet fuel was launched from a rupture tube on the military -run tank farm, and leaked into a well that supplies water with housing and offices at the sprawling base and around it. About 6000 people have suffered from nausea, headache, rash and other symptoms.
The amount granted to each of the plaintiffs was much smaller than nearly 225,000 dollars to $ 1.25 million and their lawyer, Christina Behr, requested during the two -week trials in the Federal Court of Honolulu.
As Prosecutors, the 17 was chosen because they were seen as representatives of thousands of other people whose cases are still suspended.
Baehr described the damage awards disappointing, but he said that the families “prevailed against all difficulties against the US government.”
“These families can be proud that they have really helped prove what happened when the navy was smiling water supplies near Perl Harbor and her illness a lot,” Bayer said in a press statement. “The court rejected the government’s argument that thousands of our customers were merely psychological and that there was not enough fuel to make anyone sick.”
Bayer said the legal team was reviewing options to solve thousands of remaining cases.
The government recognized the responsibility for spill before the trial began, but its lawyers questioned whether the prosecutors were subjected to sufficient jet fuel to cause vomiting, rash and other alleged negative health effects.
