Dow, DuPont Win Dismissal of Carcinogen Ethylene Oxide Claims

Dow Inc., Dow Chemical Company, and DuPont De Nemours Inc. won their bids to dismiss would-be class claims over a West Virginia manufacturing facility’s ethylene oxide emissions, but the lawsuit remains alive as claims against Union Carbide Corp. and Bayer CropScience move forward.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia dismissed Union Carbide’s parent corporations, Dow Inc. and Dow Chemical, after deciding that plaintiff Mark Letart failed to allege that they had any direct involvement in their subsidiary’s alleged misconduct.

A parent corporation is generally not liable for the acts of its subsidiaries, and Letart ...