VietNamNet Bridge – A petition of Vietnamese victims of agent orage/dioxin was submitted to the US Supreme Court yesterday for reconsideration of verdict of the Second Circuit US Court of Appeals.

In May 2008, the US Court of Appeals petition of the Vietnamese plaintiffs against US chemical companies which produced AO/dioxin used during the Vietnam War.

AO victims’ laywers hopes that the petition to the US Supreme Court would be accepted,

Nguyen Van Quy (on the wheel chair) on the way to New York Court of  Appeals on June 2007, three weeks before he died. (File Photo)

reconsidering all ealier verdicts of the Hearing and Appeal Courts.

“The petition believes that the lawsuit has been separated from the judiciary procedure which has been recognized in the United States”, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), Tran Xuan Thu, said today in a press conference.

Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange filed their suit in January 2004 in a New York federal court, accusing 37 US chemical firms including Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Hercules, Occidental Chemical, Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, Maxus Energy, Uniroyal Inc and Wyeth, of producing and supplying toxic defoliants used by the US Army in Vietnam. 

On March 10, a federal court in New York dismissed a legal action brought by Vietnamese plaintiffs. On September 09, the Vietnamese plaintiffs sent a petition to the US Court of Appeals. The petition was rejected by the Court of Appeals on March 22^nd.

Several US veterans are also suing the chemical companies. Their case reached as far as the supreme court and was sent back to Judge Weinstein who dismissed the case in March 2005. They have also appealed and it is expected that their appeal will be heard around the same time as the Vietnamese lawsuit.

VAVA has recently announced that association members have no choice but keep struggling for justice.

Xuan Linh