She said, ‘Dress for yourself - not for anyone else,’” Burch said. “In the 1940s, she said something radical for the time. The designer also clued in the crowd to how the work of a Parsons alum, Claire McCardell, has been a source of inspiration. Without any hesitation, I have to say it was the easiest and best decision that I’ve ever made,” Burch said. “Everyone always asks me if it was difficult to give up the CEO role after 14 years. Thanking her husband, Pierre-Yves Roussel, Burch said she “basically bullied him” into being the company’s chief executive officer in 2018. In fact, I never got the feeling that you wanted me to be a stay-at-home mom,” Burch said. They have always been exceptionally supportive. Her gratitude extended to Parsons’ president Dwight McBride, executive Dean Rachel Schreiber and their faculty, fellow honorees, her mother, brothers, stepdaughters “Pookie” and “Izzie” and her sons. Experts say there just is not enough research on the health effects of prolonged exposure to fly ash.Donna Karan attends the 73rd Annual Parsons Benefit. Still, if and when the workers get a new trial, it could be difficult to prove the ash caused their illnesses. In a statement about his 2009 peer-reviewed study, he warned that inhaling airborne particles could have a "severe health impact.” It has not been proven that Jacobs - or even coal ash - is to blame for any illnesses, and the EPA classifies coal ash as nonhazardous.īut Duke University geochemist Avner Vengosh, who is not involved in the litigation, found high levels of radioactivity and toxic metals, including arsenic and mercury in the Kingston coal ash. Jacobs’ attorneys have said the company did its best to mange the cleanup in a way regulators said was safe. Dozens developed cancers and at least 40 later died from illnesses.
#Skin stealer names trial#
A Jacobs subcontractor testified at trial that workers were not allowed to wear masks to protect them from the fly ash “because it looked bad.” In Associated Press interviews, workers recalled constantly coughing and joking about “coal ash flu.” Later they began suffering strange lesions. Some of the cleanup workers took on 12-hour shifts for months at a time with few or no days off. As the sludge slowly dried over the yearslong course of the cleanup, it turned into a fine dust that had to be constantly watered down but still filled the air, especially on windy days, according to trial testimony.
#Skin stealer names torrent#
22, 2008, that dam collapsed, releasing more than a billion gallons of coal ash sludge in a torrent that knocked nearby homes off their foundations. history began with a leaky six-story earthen dam outside TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant. The largest industrial spill in modern U.S. The court notes that Congress, in creating the TVA, wrote a clause into statute specifically providing that the utility can “sue and be sued in its corporate name.” In its ruling, the federal appeals court panel found that TVA is not immune from suit and neither is Jacobs. In the question decided last week, Jacobs argued that TVA was immune from lawsuits because it is a federal public utility, and that protection extends to the contractor through derivative immunity. In the meantime, Jacobs has challenged the workers' right to sue. More than three years later, the two sides have not been able to come to an agreement and a new trial date has not been set. The federal judge in the case ordered mediation, alluding to many workers' urgent need for medical care. Whether those actions actually did make them sick, and thus eligible for monetary damages, was left for a subsequent trial or trials. The jurors said Jacobs’ actions were capable of making the workers sick.
More than 200 workers blame Jacobs Engineering for exposing them to ash they say caused a slew of illnesses, including cancers of the lung, brain, blood and skin.Ī Knoxville, Tennessee, jury in 2018 took only a few hours to decide that Jacobs - a contractor hired by Tennessee Valley Authority - breached its duty of care to the workers, exposing them to airborne “fly ash” with known carcinogens. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week. A contractor hired to clean up the nation's worst coal ash spill is not immune from being sued by workers who say they were not properly protected, the 6th U.S.