Plaintiffs v China Synthetic Rubber Corporation
Ponca Nation Gets $10.5 Million Settlement In Environmental Lawsuit
After nearly five years of litigation, the China Synthetic Rubber Corporation and its American subsidiary, the Houston, Texas-based Continental Carbon Company USA, has agreed to pay $10.5 million in a class action lawsuit with the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma and nearly 2,000 tribal home and landowners. Continental Carbon and its parent company are owned by the Koo family of Taiwan.
The lawsuit, originally filed in April 2005, is based on allegations made by the Ponca Nation about carbon black dust being emitted into the air from its Ponca City, Okla. facility. In previously published articles by Indian Country Today dated Aug. 10 and Aug. 17, 2007, Ponca families who lived closest to the plant suffered from illnesses such as asthma and other breathing-related problems and had difficulty keeping the black dust out of their homes. Carbon black is an ingredient in products like car tires and rubber hoses.
The original date of settlement was Feb. 6, however, the terms of the settlement continued to be in contention as late as May. Through the summer, class notices had to be published in national and local newspapers in Oklahoma.
Ponca class representative attorneys Kalyn Free and Jason Aamodt said they, along with their co-counsel Christine Little, were in court July 28, asking for a motion of final approval for the terms of the settlement. They were prepared to have expert witnesses and Ponca class representative Amos Hinton testify in court. Free said the federal judge, Robin Cauthron, decided the settlement was adequate and met federal requirements and granted final approval July 31. By the time the case received final approval, more than one million pages of documents had been generated and at least 170 depositions taken throughout the United States.
The terms of the settlement include $300,000 each going to 11 Ponca homeowners who were most affected by the pollution to facilitate moving to a new home; which Continental Carbon has to purchase. Other funds were divided among fractionated landowners of original Ponca allotments according to how much property is owned, with class representatives receiving additional payments of $1,000 to $15,000. The Ponca Nation as a whole will get a check for $320,595. Payments were scheduled to begin Sept. 1.
An additional stipulation to the settlement is that Continental Carbon is now legally obligated to test and clean up any future carbon black pollution that may occur in the area, and a third party must do the testing. Whenever a tribal member finds potential pollution, there is a seven-day window of time to report it.
For more information please contact:
Jason Aamodt
222 South Kenosha Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74120
Phone: (918)584-2001
