The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

The Settlement Contd...

UCC described the court's decision as fair and reasonable, and the company's stock soared in the London market. Analysts felt that the Bhopal Gas disaster, which left thousands of people dead and injured, was settled for a mere US $ 470 million—which worked out to around Rs. 10,000 per victim (if it was divided equally).

In the same year, a leading national daily⁹ stated that approximately US $ 40,000 was spent on the rehabilitation of every sea otter affected by the Alaska oil spill.¹⁰ Each sea otter was given rations of lobsters costing US $ 500 per day. Thus the life of an Indian citizen in Bhopal was clearly much cheaper than that of a sea otter in America. In 1991, the Bhopal court summoned Warren Anderson to appear on a charge of 'homicide in a criminal case.' However, he did not turn up.

On September 9, 1993, UCC sold its entire 50.9% stake in UCIL to the Calcutta based Mc Leod Russell India Ltd., a company of the B M Khaitan Group. Till 2000, attempts to serve a summon on Warren Anderson by victims' organizations in the Federal Court on Southern district of New York have been unsuccessful.

Kenneth McCallion, who was the lawyer for some of the victims and their family members, said a private investigator also hired to deliver the summons at Anderson's residences in Vero Beach, Florida, and Manhattan and Long Island in New York was unable to locate him. Asked if he believed Warren Anderson had gone into hiding to avoid the summons, McCallion said, "We are just surprised we have been unable to find him, a former CEO of a major corporation."

He observed, "And there is also a legal process which has been issued by the courts in India for him to appear in Bhopal district court to answer criminal charges and those attempts to serve him... have been unsuccessful as well." In 2001, in their book, It was five past midnight in Bhopal, Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro wrote that bringing UCC to justice was unlikely because UCC had been sold out. In August 1999, Dow Chemical purchased UCC for US$ 9.3 billion.

Exhibits

Exhibit I: The Site for the Pesticide Factory

9] The Times of India.

10] Exxon was involved in a major disaster in 1989, when one its tankers met with an accident and spilled 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound in Alaska. The oil tanks of the Exxon Valdez were ruptured in a collision off the coast of Alaska.

Case Details

Case Code : BECG009
Themes: Ethics in Business
Case Length : 09 Pages
Period : 1980-2001
Organization : Union Carbide India Limited
Pub Date : 2002
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Chemicals

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