The settlement to resolve the $1.06 billion judgment against Dow imposed in 2013, comes almost a year after both sides abruptly backtracked from a previous agreement to resolve the case.
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“Growing political uncertainties due to recent events within the Supreme Court and increased likelihood for unfavorable outcomes for business involved in class action suits have changed Dow’s risk assessment of the situation”, the company said in a statement.
Scalia, of course, was not exactly a fan of class actions.
“Said Cinderella Guevara, presiding judge of a county court, who had pronounced him dead, “…the death certificate will say that he died of natural causes with myocardial infarction, better known as a heart attack, being a contributing factor”.
Dow Chemicals had originally been found liable by a federal jury back in February of 2013 for keeping the prices of polyurethane high, from the late 1990s to the beginning of the 2000s.
“Companies whose positions are based more on political philosophy than on interpretation of the law worry when the majority philosophy in sway at the court changes”, said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s business and law schools who teaches classes on mass torts and class-action cases. “There are still people being considered for inclusion on the list of people that the president may consider for filling a Supreme Court vacancy”.
That sum was tripled under antitrust law to $1.2 billion, and then reduced to $1.06 billion plus interest because of other settlements. Dow continues to believe strongly in its legal position as expressed in its petition. Dow agreed to settle by paying US$835 million. The judgment dealt with alleged actions by Dow and several other companies between 2000 and 2003.
The idea that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and “like-minded colleagues” tried to shed the court’s “modern responsibilities”, as the editorial board wrote, is a fantasy that adopts the myth that conservative justices such as Justice Scalia are not judicial “activists” but liberal justices are.
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Shares of Dow Chemical Co. rose 64 cents, or 1.3 percent, to close at $48.74.
