UNSUBSTANTIATED:A Vietnamese judge was quoted as saying that fishermen did not provide clear evidence of their losses, resulting in the rejection of their pleas

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 10, 2016
By: AFP, HANOI

A Vietnamese court has rejected hundreds of lawsuits filed by fishermen who demanded more compensation from a Taiwanese-owned steel plant responsible for a devastating toxic leak, a leading activist said on Saturday.

In a rare case of civic action in authoritarian Vietnam, crowds of fishermen last month swamped a courthouse to file 506 lawsuits against Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), which is constructing a multibillion-dollar steel plant in Ha Tinh Province.

The conglomerate paid Vietnam’s government US$500 million after it was blamed of dumping waste that poisoned fish and decimated the local seafood industry earlier this year.

Local fishermen launched their lawsuits in an effort to wrest more money from Formosa and demand that it shut down the steel operation altogether.     [FULL  STORY]