French court dismisses case over Agent Orange use in Vietnam

A French court has dismissed the case of a French-Vietnamese woman who sued 14 companies that produced and sold the powerful defoliant dioxin Agent Orange, used by U.S. troops during the Vietnam War

PARIS -- A French court on Monday dismissed the case of a French-Vietnamese woman who sued 14 companies that produced and sold the powerful defoliant dioxin Agent Orange used by U.S. troops during the Vietnam War, her lawyers said. The judicial court of Evry, a Paris suburb, ruled that the case fell outside its jurisdiction as the defendants said they acted under the constraint of the U.S. government in wartime. Tran To Nga, a 79-year-old former journalist, told the Associated Press she will appeal the decision. Tran said she had prepared for what she described as the worst-case scenario but the decision still puzzled her. “Frankly, I’ve been fighting for 10 years and the trial took 6 years (before taking place). How is it that during those 6 years, they didn’t say that my complaint was not eligible?” she asked.