$200-Million Agent Orange Fund Ordered Withheld Pending Appeal

The legal mechanism for distributing the Agent Orange settlement fund has been placed on hold, pending appeal of the out-of-court agreement that produced the $200-million fund.

U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein on Wednesday ordered companies chosen to distribute the fund to take no action until further notice.

Weinstein’s order came a day after the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay against the settlement distribution plan pending its decision on an appeal.

Weinstein’s order was largely a housekeeping procedure since he has previously ruled that none of the $180-million fund, which has grown to more than $200 million with interest, can be paid to veterans or the families of deceased veterans until the appeals process has been completed.

60 Appeals

There are more than 60 appeals of the settlement reached between manufacturers of the chemical defoliant and Vietnam veterans and their families. Weinstein approved the settlement in May, 1985, to end an eight-year legal battle over Agent Orange.

The class-action suit was filed on behalf of all American, Australian and New Zealander troops who served in Vietnam between 1961 and 1972 and who claimed injury from exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide widely used in Southeast Asia to destroy the enemy’s jungle hiding places.

The U.S. government and the seven manufacturers of Agent Orange denied any link between the chemical and veterans’ health problems.

Health Problems

Veterans claimed that the chemical caused a wide range of health problems for them, their wives and their children, including cancer, miscarriages and birth defects.

Lawyers for the manufacturers and the plaintiff class reached a settlement in May, 1984, just before the case was to go to trial.