For a moment, it looked as if the legal clouds were finally lifting from the worst industrial disaster in history. Union Carbide said last week that it had reached a settlement with attorneys for the victims of the December 1984 chemical-leak catastrophe at the company's plant in Bhopal, India. The Danbury, Conn.-based firm (1985 revenues: $9 billion) agreed to pay $350 million in damages for the disaster, which killed at least 1,758 people and may have injured up to 300,000 others.
But after Carbide's announcement, the government of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the settlement "totally unacceptable." The New Delhi...