A proposed class action arising out of the release of toxic chemicals of oleum and sulfuric acid in Richmond, California on July 26, 1993.  James C. Sturdevant served as the Chair of the Discovery Committee, one of the four committees created to organize and oversee the coordinated complex toxic tort litigation.  The parties in this complex case, involving more than seventy coordinated cases covering some 65,000 individuals, entered into a global settlement in which the defendants paid up to $180 million to the settlement class for personal injury and punitive damages claims.  The settlement was approved in October 1995.