Agent Orange Plan Halves Vets’ Payments

Payments to veterans who sued over the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam will be about half as much as previously expected under a final plan approved today by a federal judge.

Seven chemical companies that made Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War to reduce the enemy’s jungle concealment, reached an out-of-court settlement last year with the plaintiffs in the class action suit.

The companies, denying liability, created a $180-million fund, now estimated at nearly $200 million with interest.

In the 174-page plan released today, U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein earmarked about $150 million, or about three-quarters of the settlement money, for direct payments to totally disabled veterans and the surviving spouses or children of deceased veterans.

$45 Million for ‘Assistance’

An additional $45 million will be used for “a class assistance foundation” for veterans and their families. About $4 million, or 2% of the fund, will go to claimants from Australia and New Zealand, Weinstein said.

The suit covered all U.S., Australian and New Zealand troops who served in Vietnam between 1961 and 1972 and were injured by exposure to Agent Orange, plus their spouses, parents and children born before Jan. 1, 1984.

Weinstein’s plan generally followed one advanced by a court-appointed special master in February. But he estimated individual payments to be only about half as high as in the master’s plan because of “the higher number of claimants potentially eligible for compensation.”

Weinstein said about 245,000 claims have been filed so far.