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Enron Mail |
PM-ME--MTBE Lawsuit, Bjt,600
Associated Press Friday, March 3, 2000 Judge rejects class-action status for MTBE lawsuit By MICHELLE EMERY= Associated Press Writer= PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ A judge has ruled not to give class-action status to a lawsuit a handful of Maine well owners filed against the makers of the gasoline additive MtBE. Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Roland A. Cole ruled Thursday that the suit should not encompass all Maine well owners. He said there are too many different ways that MtBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, can cause well contamination, such as through spills or leaking underground tanks. Cole ruled that the lawsuit the five homeowners filed against the manufacturers does not adequately encompass the MtBE concerns of all well owners. Cole wrote in his ruling that the plaintiffs' decision to exclude personal injury cases and claims against ``actual spillers'' could preclude class members with contaminated wells from suing for other damages. He added that class members whose wells have lower levels of MtBE would be barred from receiving damages to clean up their wells. ``I think it's a mistake, and it doesn't quite hold up under real world facts,'' said the plaintiffs' lawyer, Jon Hinck. ``Well owners in the state of Maine are going to have to proceed on their own to get their well-water tested for MtBE contamination, and pursue their own legal remedies,'' he said. Plaintiffs sought to have the Atlantic Richfield Co., the Arco Chemical Co. and the Lyondell Chemical Co., manufacturers of MtBE, pay to test 250,000 wells in Maine for MtBE contamination and to clean up any contamination found. They say the companies failed to warn about water contamination dangers and exaggerated air-quality benefits. The defendants argue that state and federal environmental officials knew about the risk MtBE posed to groundwater. They decided the clean-air benefits of gasoline reformulated with high levels of MtBE outweighed contamination concerns, defense lawyer William Kayatta said. Kayatta said testing and cleanup would cost more than $15 million. ``The court recognized that these were at best novel and untested claims,'' Kayatta said. ``The court recognized that the plaintiffs were hoping to hold the manufacturers liable for contamination of their wells regardless of the fact that the contamination and spills were caused by others, and we thought that was unfair,'' he said. The defendants' next move will be to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Kayatta said. ``We don't think there is any basis, and now that's the issue,'' he said. Hinck said he was encouraged by Cole's statement in his ruling that MtBE contamination is a problem. ``Their cases are viable, and they're going forward,'' he said, adding that other individual well owners may join the lawsuit. Hinck is assisting with a similar effort in North Carolina, where well owners are trying to get class-action status for a lawsuit against oil companies. MtBE, a possible carcinogen, moves more quickly through soil and water than other components of gasoline. Long-term exposure has caused cancer in lab animals, but there is not enough data to say whether it also will cause cancer in humans. Its use was mandated in 16 states as a way to cut down on air pollution. Maine stopped using reformulated gasoline with high levels of MtBE last May, after state studies found about 15 percent of wells tested had been contaminated with the additive. Residents in several other states, including New Hampshire, New Jersey, California and Connecticut, also have grown concerned about MtBE contamination. AP-ES-03-03-00 0219EST
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