May 18, 1979 - Karen Silkwood verdict
As reported by PEACEbuttons.INFO:
Today in Peace and Justice History
A Publication of PEACEbuttons.INFO
May 18, 1979
A jury in a federal court in Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee established a company's responsibility for damage to the health of a worker in the nuclear [weapons] industry.
Karen Silkwood worked for the Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corporation, at their Cimmarron, [Oklahoma] plant, where plutonium was manufactured.
Silkwood had become the first female member of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers bargaining committee, focusing on worker safety issues, but had suffered radiation exposure in a series of unexplained incidents.
The jury in judge Frank G. Theis's court awarded her estate $505,000 in actual damages, and $10 million punitive damages.
She had died in a [very suspicious] car accident on her way to a meeting with a New York Times reporter five years earlier.
admin