A federal jury has awarded homeowners who sued the former operators of Rocky Flats at least $352 million dollars.
Property owners had been seeking $500 million dollars, in a four-month trial against Dow Chemical and Rockwell International.
The award, which includes both actual and punitive damages for property devaluation, was originally set at $553.9, but it is likely to be reduced to $352 million.
The ten-person jury deliberated for 17 days.
The decision this afternoon came after 15 years of legal skirmishing, pitting 12,000 property owners near the site of the Cold War-era weapons facility against the companies that ran it. Their class-action lawsuit contended that Dow and Rockwell acted negligently and allowed plutonium to blow off the site and contaminate residential property.
The trial stemmed from a 1990 lawsuit filed by property owners downwind of Rocky Flats, northwest of Denver.
Denver Post reporter Alicia Caldwell contributed to this report.
