Jury clears Street in tainted water suit
A long-running legal battle over drinking water contamination reached a
milestone last month when a jury cleared several chemical companies of nearly
all claims brought against them by the city of Modesto, CA.
Modesto sued 17 companies involved in the manufacture, distribution, sale and
use of perchloroethylene in 1998, claiming that misuse of perc had contaminated
the city’s water supply. The city said the companies had sold a “defective product” and failed to tell drycleaners how to use and dispose of it without harming the
environment.
An earlier phase of the trial brought a $3.2 million award to the city for
compensatory damages in 2006. The more recent phase — a trial that began last November and included four weeks of jury deliberation
before the May 18 decision — brought the city an additional award of $18.3 million in compensatory damages
against Dow Chemical and PPG Industries. The $18.3 million award could be
offset by settlements the city has already reached with other defendants.
At the same time, the jury dismissed claims against R.R. Street and Co. Inc.,
saying the company had no liability for any of the contamination with respect
to Street’s Staticol, Puritan, and PerSec products. The jury also found no liability for
one other defendant, distributor Goss-Jewett, which is no longer in business.
“Although this lawsuit has been a tremendous drain on our company’s financial and human resources for more than a decade, we believe the ultimate
vindication of the company and its products justifies the expenditure of these
resources,” said Ross Beard, chief executive officer of R.R. Street & Co. Inc.
“The company’s vigorous defense of meritless claims in this and other lawsuits is of vital
importance not only to Street but also to the industry as a whole,” he added.
In the earlier phase of the case in 2006, the jury granted Modesto $75,000 in
punitive damages against Street along with $75 million against Dow and $100
million against Vulcan Chemical on top of the $3.2 million in compensatory
damages. A Superior Court judge later reduced those punitive damages to $5.5
million for Dow and $7.25 million for Vulcan.
The lawsuit filed in 1998 named 17 defendants, including several local
drycleaners in addition to makers and suppliers of chemicals. The city sought
over $100 million to clean up soil and groundwater contamination at more than
30 locations.
During the trial in 2006, attorneys for the city said the companies told
drycleaners they could safely dispose their perc waste in the city sewer
system. As part of their defense, the chemical companies argued that the city’s leaky sewer systems contributed to the problem.
In the trial that began last November, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest
H. Goldsmith dismissed the majority of the sites from the case, finding that
there was no evidence of damage to the city that was caused by the companies'
products.
Beard attributed his company’s success in the case to the work of the Houston-based law firm Hicks Thomas
LLP.
“John Thomas [a Hicks Thomas partner] and his team worked tirelessly and
effectively to present the evidence and argument that resulted in the jury’s favorable verdict for Street,” Beard said.
A statement from Thomas noted that “R.R. Street has always worked with the highest standards for safety. We are
pleased that the jury carefully reviewed the facts in this case and found no
wrongdoing by our client.”
Attorneys for Dow, PPG and Modesto indicated that the legal battle will
continue. A spokesman for Dow said his company may ask for a retrial and a PPG
spokesman said the litigation is far from over. Modesto’s lawyer said the city plans to appeal.
