ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the examination of the Bhopal crisis, with a look at the initial arrival of Union Carbide in India and the development of the Bhopal plant. The gas leak, a number of attorneys from the United States went to India in an attempt to identify possible claimants against Union Carbide. The Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act gave the Indian government the exclusive right to represent everyone who made a claim or intended to make a claim against Union Carbide for injuries resulting from the accident at Bhopal and to coordinate the five hundred claims that had been filed by then in India. The largest settlement for an industrial accident dismissed all criminal charges and civil suits in India against Union Carbide and its chairperson. The accident at Bhopal has forced the development of new systems and processes, and strategies for minimizing liabilities in an era of increasing development of chemical systems and processes.
