Matsuura

After settling their product liability suits against E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Inc. (DuPont), David and Stephen Mat-suura allegedly discovered that DuPont had fraudulently induced them to settle for less than the fair value of their claims. They sued DuPont 1 for fraud, but the district court held the suit was barred by general releases in the settlement agreements. We conclude that under Delaware law, which governs, defrauded tort plaintiffs may stand by their settlement agreements and institute an independent action for fraud, which the Matsuura-DuPont releases do not bar. We therefore reverse.

I

The Matsuuras, commercial nurserymen, alleged in their product liability suits that a DuPont fungicide, Benlate, was contaminated with herbicides, which killed their plants. 2 Many similar suits were filed by commercial growers across the nation. In early trials, DuPont falsely represented that soil tests had produced no evidence of contamination. During consolidated discovery proceedings in Hawaii, which included the Matsuuras’ suits, DuPont falsely denied withholding evidence of Benlate contamination, and improperly invoked work product protection to resist disclosure of…