|
Class
action OKd against Lisle firm
Chicago Tribune -
8/20
A federal judge
has ruled that a lawsuit brought against Lisle-based Lockformer
Co. on behalf of thousands of DuPage County residents can proceed
as a class action.
The suit was
filed a year ago by a homeowner near Lisle and a Downers Grove
resident, whose wells were found to have been contaminated with
the solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE. They sought class
certification for those living in 1,200 homes in areas south of
Lockformer's Ogden Avenue plant, where dozens of other tainted
wells were found by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The five-count
suit names as defendants Lockformer; its parent company; and
Honeywell International Inc., owner of the company's former
chemical supplier.
The suit alleges
a metal degreaser containing the possible carcinogen TCE was
spilled at the plant and migrated in liquid and vapor form toward
their homes, contaminating the soil, groundwater and water supply.
U.S. District
Judge William J. Hibbler ruled Aug. 12 that "the most
efficient and manageable way to proceed" would be as a class
because the core questions to be asked and answered would rely on
the same evidence. Hibbler also denied Honeywell's request to be
removed from the suit.
Although Hibbler
did not define the class, he referred to the plaintiffs' proposal
of about 1,200 homes. In their filing, the plaintiffs said the
area would stretch southeast from Gamble Drive and Kingston Avenue
in Lisle and include the Woodridge Estates subdivision near Lisle,
portions of Downers Grove east of Interstate Highway 355 and the
Suburban Estates subdivision near Woodridge.
Lockformer had
argued there were too many differences among the plaintiffs'
properties for the suit to be certified as a class, citing the
lack of wells or basements in some of the homes as well as a
number of homes where wells tested negative for TCE.
Hibbler ruled,
however, that all the plaintiffs' claims "arise out of the
same alleged misconduct by the defendants." None of the
differences "are sufficient enough to overshadow the
underlying questions of whether or not defendants' conduct caused
contamination of the area in question, and, if so, to what extent
[they] should be held liable."
Hibbler also
noted a similar ruling from Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, who
certified an earlier lawsuit against Lockformer as a class action.
Filed by 186 Lisle residents who live closer to the plant's south
border, that suit was settled for $10 million in May.
"While these
similarities warrant recognition, the two cases remain independent
from one another," Hibbler wrote.
Both suits asked
the court to restrain Lockformer from allowing contamination on
its property, award the plaintiffs compensatory and punitive
damages, and order the defendants to provide a safe domestic water
supply.
Lockformer also
had cited the other lawsuit, arguing that the opinion of an expert
in that case failed to include these homes when identifying the
plant's plume of TCE contamination.
But Hibbler also
dismissed that argument. "The proposed class members that
fall outside the alleged plume do not fall far," he ruled.
NOTICE: In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C., section 107, some material is provided without
permission from the copyright owner, only for purposes of
criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair
use" provisions of federal copyright laws. These materials
may not be distributed further, except for "fair use,"
without permission of the copyright owner.
|