Kraft Settles in $8 Million Pollution Class Action

Kraft – owners of Cadbury´s Chocolate and manufacturers of Cracker Barrel, Philadelphia and their own brand of Cheeses – have settled an $8 Million class action suit brought against them by residents of Attica, Indiana.

The residents of 124 homes in the city alleged that a nearby Kraft factory had polluted the local air with vinyl chloride – a known human carcinogen – and had contaminated the local water supply with trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE).

Testing in the Attica homes had revealed the presence of vinyl chloride, and residents demanded both compensation for the ill health caused by Kraft´s polluting activities and also that the company clean up its factory site and nearby ground water.

Under the terms of the agreement, Kraft will also install mitigation systems in homes which have been affected and individual plaintiffs will still have the right to bring individual compensation claims should they become sick as a result of the pollution.