DuPont's "Sweet Deal" Less Sweet

There have been many criticisms for many reasons of DuPont's agreement with Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch. 

According to that agreement - which wasn't a binding legal contract - DuPont said that in exchange for being dropped from the 2005-2006 RI lead paint lawsuit it would pony up the money to remove paint from hundreds of RI residences.  At the time the estimate for that was about $9 million.  As ASSOCIATED PRESS' Michelle R. Smith reports, that estimate has soared to $18.6 million.  So, those castigating both DuPont and the Attorney General for allowing that sweet deal can see that it's no longer so sweet.

What could be the most bitter part is that the three defendants who did go to trial and were convicted might never have to pay a penny in abatement costs.  The fourth defendant was acquitted.  The three convicted defendants have requested to appeal their case to the RI Supreme Court.  That might do the trick and get them completely off the hook - especially when the RI Supreme Court takes into account the contingency fee structure between the government office of the Attorney General and private law firm Motley Rice.  If that review doesn't do the trick, there are grounds - including constitutional ones -to advance the case to federal jurisdiction.  Some attorneys opine there is a chance, slim though, that the U.S. Supreme Court might find the case interesting and hear it as a last resort.

Another souring of the whole deal is that DuPont and the RI Attorney General have both received negative publicity about its terms and conditions.  It was not a plus, at least in public perception, for either.

Those four which went to trial might turn out, after this long legal ordeal, to have done the right - and the smart - thing.