Rob Billot: The lawyer who became a thorn in the side of DuPont and chemical pollution

First the cattle got sick. Then workers at the plant. And then the people of the town... But it is taking years of fighting by one lawyer to hold DuPont accountable for exposing thousands of residents to a chemical its scientists knew to be toxic, writes Nathaniel Rich

Just months before Rob Bilott was made partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, he received a call on his direct line from a cattle farmer.

The farmer, Wilbur Tennant of Parkersburg, West Virginia, said his cows were dying left and right. He believed that the DuPont chemical company, which until recently operated a site in Parkersburg that is more than 35 times the size of the Pentagon, was responsible.