Vietnamese appeal U.S. court's ruling on Agent Orange case

[Rose Siding]

HANOI, Vietnam -- Attorneys for the Vietnamese plaintiffs whose lawsuit against U.S. chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange was dismissed last month have appealed the ruling, an official said Saturday.
The appeals were filed in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Thursday, said Tran Xuan Thu, general secretary of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange.

"We appealed because the ruling by the U.S. federal judge was irrational," he said.

The class action lawsuit filed on behalf of some 4 million Vietnamese claimed that U.S. chemical companies committed war crimes by manufacturing Agent Orange for military use during the Vietnam War.

On March 10, U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein threw out the case, saying the allegedly toxic defoliant and similar U.S. herbicides used during the Vietnam War could not be considered poisons banned under international rules of war, even though they may have had comparable effects on people and land.

The judge also found that the plaintiffs could not prove that Agent Orange had caused their illnesses, largely because of a lack of large-scale research.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--vietnam-agentoran0409apr09,0,6576765.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Can they go to an international court?

[PeaceProgProsp]

4. Have to go to a court which can enforce a meaningful judgment vs defendant

So, you have to go to a court with jurisdiction over the case and to a jurisdiction where there are enough assets to satisfy the judgment.

[Laughing Mirror]

2. Judge is probably in the pay of Monsanto or Dow Chem, or somebody

If the Vietnamese have any spare Agent Orange lying around they might try dusting a little around the judge's house and garden. Let that sorry excuse for a judge see how it feels.

[Bruce McAuley]

3. Good!

As for evidence, how about the $180 million settlement years ago with Dow and others in the pesticide business to pay off our soldiers dusted with the poison?
Oh, yeah. It was without admitting liability, I forgot!
Good to see the Vietnamese asking for their share from Dow and others also, they deserve it for the pollution we caused. Wait until the Iraqis start their lawsuits for Depleted Uranium, that's REALLY gonna hurt since that stuff lasts THOUSANDS of years, as compared to the dozens or hundreds of years for 2,4D(Agent Orange).

Bruce