The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

Judge William Clark, Berry’s former boss from when he was a law clerk, calls Berry up one day and lightly proposes that he settle the case out of court. Clark has also proposed this idea to USRC lawyers. Though Berry is reluctant to settle out of court, he wants the girls to be comfortable in their last days and avoid the court delays that are dragging the case out.

It is in USRC’s favor to settle, as it allows them to both deny responsibility and to decide when and how to take up future court cases. After some negotiating, they land on a deal of “$15,000 ($208,000) as a cash lump sum for each woman, a pension of $600 ($8,316) a year for life, past and future medical expenses, and USRC to cover all court costs” (284).

USRC accepts, with two important caveats. They deny guilt, and specify that their reasons for settling are “humanitarian” alone. They also specify that the girls will need to be examined by two doctors each month—one appointed by USRC and one mutually agreed upon—and that if the doctors discovered that the girls were no longer suffering from radium poisoning, the monthly payments will cease.