Dow to pay $835 million to settle lawsuit, cites Scalia's death

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has prompted Dow Chemical to settle a class action lawsuit and pay out $835 million.

Scalia, of course, was not exactly a fan of class actions.

Dow Chemical Co's docket number for its Supreme Court bid is No. 14A665. The outcome in that case could have affected the Dow Chemical litigation had the company not chose to settle.

Stunningly, Dow's statement singled out two major cases in which Scalia wrote the majority opinions - 2011's Wal-Mart v. Dukes and 2013's Comcast v. Behrend - essentially conceding that, without Scalia, the company no longer had any prospects of winning.

The petition was on hold as the justices considered a similar lawsuit Tyson Foods, but Dow made a decision to enter into the settlement following Scalia's death, which left the court with four conservative justices and four liberal justices - and touched off a political firestorm about whether the Senate should consider President Obama's eventual nominee to replace him.

Dow appealed the liability finding and award to a federal appeals court in Denver, which rejected its challenges to urethane purchasers' class-action claims in September 2014.

Hewitt in reserve for Davis Cup tie
Lleyton Hewitt's coming out of retirement, little more than a month since he hung up the racquet. Kyrgios wasn't the only Australian in doubt heading into the tie.

The candidates for Wisconsin Supreme Court differ on whether President Obama should name a replacement for a vacancy on the US Supreme Court.

What is interesting here is how Dow described this settlement. The firm added that it "believes this settlement is the right decision for the company and our shareholders". The judgment dealt with the alleged company actions between 2000 and 2003.

Dow said the agreement depends on the Supreme Court agreeing to postpone an action Dow bought asking it to look at the decision taken by the District Court in Kansas to fine Dow $1.1 billion.

Dow's statement said that the charges of price fixing had been investigated by the Justice Department, which had closed its probe in 2007 without taking any action against Dow.

Dow Chemical shares were last seen up 1.8% at $48.97 on Friday.