Donation to Missouri AG riles plaintiffs in lead-poisoning suit against St. Louis company

Over the summer, Attorney General Andrew Bailey joined in the effort to try to convince a federal court to move a lead-poisoning lawsuit against a St. Louis company out of Missouri.

The litigation in question was filed by thousands of people from Peru suing Doe Run Resources Corp. over alleged injuries caused by its lead smelter in that country.

Bailey filed an amicus brief, signed by his solicitor general, arguing that the lawsuit should be handled by courts in Peru, where the plaintiffs live and where the pollution took place.

Doe Run’s corporate headquarters is in St. Louis.

Less than three months later, Bailey’s re-election campaign got a major boost. A political action committee created to support his 2024 hopes got a $50,000 check from Doe Run’s parent company, New York-based Renco Group.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the plaintiffs cried foul, asking a federal court to either throw Bailey’s brief out altogether or require him to amend it to acknowledge the five-figure contribution.

Plaintiffs noted Renco has only waded into Missouri politics twice: Last month for Bailey, and in 2018 for Gov. Mike Parson, shortly after he, too, tried to get the case to be moved to Peru.

“Renco seemingly has only ever made two donations to Missouri state politicians — and both closely coincided with the recipients intervening in this litigation to help Renco,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.