Cases
Rohm and Haas Illinois Cancer Cluster Cases - 02/02/2006Summary of Case - Court Documents - News Items
FIRST OF 31 BRAIN CANCER CLUSTER CASES AGAINST DOW SUBSIDIARY ABOUT TO GO TO TRIAL IN PHILADELPHIA
ROHM & HAAS-OWNED COMPANY OPERATED ILLINOIS TOXIC SITE NEAR VICTIM'S COMMUNITY
The first of 31 brain cancer-cluster cases, in which Rohm & Haas, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical (DOW: NYSE) is the defendant, will be tried in a state court here starting September 20.
The complaint in the case (Branham vs. Rohm & Haas Co., et al.) alleges that the Rohm & Haas / Morton International, Ringwood, Illinois plant for nearly 20 years dumped chemical waste that caused vinyl chloride - a human carcinogen - and other highly hazardous chemicals to contaminate the air and groundwater. In the nearby village of McCullom Lake, there have been 30 documented brain tumor cases and one case of severe liver toxicity.
The victims, represented by Philadelphia attorney Aaron J. Freiwald, Esq., of Layser Freiwald, P.C., seek compensatory and punitive damages.
On April 25, 2006, three next-door neighbors who were all diagnosed with rare, malignant brain cancer within the same year became the first of the group to file suit against Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas, its subsidiary Morton International, and Modine Manufacturing.
Modine, which operates a condenser-manufacturing plant in Ringwood that is adjacent to the Morton/Rohm and Haas chemicals facility, reached a confidential settlement with plaintiffs and also agreed to pay $1.4 million toward a medical monitoring program to the benefit of the victims and their community in settlement of a related class action.
Freiwald says that of the plaintiffs, 17 have been diagnosed with malignant brain cancer; 13 have benign brain tumors (most requiring brain surgery and other treatment); and one required a liver transplant due to severe organ toxicity. Ten victims - ranging in age from 42 to 74 - have since died.
"We will show at trial that this was no coincidence; not with all these brain cancers in a tiny residential community, diagnosed so close in time, and with all these victims living so close to a chemical plant that was recklessly dumping toxic chemical waste.," says Freiwald.
Morton Chemical began disposing of chemical wastes into an unlined, eight-acre waste lagoon at its Ringwood site in 1960. Company documents obtained during the litigation show that senior Morton officials knew as early as 1973 that toxic waste from its waste lagoon had seeped into the groundwater, although they took no actions to inform state or federal regulatory agencies until a decade later. And it was 18 years after the company had confirmed groundwater contamination that Morton implemented a remediation plan.
Joanne Branham, who will appear at trial on behalf of her deceased husband, Franklin Delano Branham, wants justice for her late husband and the other 29 plaintiffs whose trials follow. "My husband was a good man and he died before his time because of this chemical none of us could see, touch, or smell," she said. "Frank shouldn't have died when he did or with all the suffering he went through. And all our neighbors, and our friends, our kids played together, grew up together, and now this."
In pre-trial motions, Freiwald has successfully argued that the plaintiffs should be allowed to introduce evidence at trial regarding the cancer cluster involving McCullom Lake residents during each individual trial. The judge in the case has also previously ruled that all of plaintiff's expert witnesses will be allowed to testify, including experts in toxicology, groundwater science, air contaminant dispersion, neuropathology and epidemiology.
Freiwald says the case relies on an incredibly voluminous factual record in support of the plaintiff claims. "Documents - including those from the plant safety engineers at the time - support the assertion that Morton International knew it leaked chemicals into the groundwater in 1973 and didn't say or do anything about it," he explained.