BENTON – After Honeywell showed that Illinois law couldn’t apply to a suit over nuclear radiation in Metropolis, plaintiffs embraced a federal law they had avoided for two years.
They moved to amend their complaint on Dec. 31, practically thanking U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle and Honeywell for steering them in the right direction.
Their lawyer Katrina Carroll of Chicago wrote that after Yandle dismissed state law claims, “Plaintiffs wasted no time and swiftly completed their extremely complex scientific investigation and analysis.
“Indeed, it was Honeywell, not plaintiffs, that raised the issue that plaintiff’s claim must proceed under the Price-Anderson Act, which is exactly what plaintiffs have undertaken to do as soon as the court spoke to the issue.”
Carroll leads a team of 12 lawyers including former Illinois Senate majority leader James Clayborne of Belleville.
The team filed a class action complaint in 2018, on behalf of Roger Steward and nine other Metropolis residents.
The complaint alleges that from 1963 to 2017, a uranium hexafluoride plant emitted air contaminated with radiation.
Plaintiffs allege negligence, trespass, nuisance, property damage, failure to warn, ultra hazardous activity, gross negligence, and infliction of distress, all under state law.
They seek to recover for property damage, personal injuries, and remediation.
Honeywell answered that they must sue under Price-Anderson, which Congress adopted to encourage private investment in nuclear energy.
Price-Anderson requires operators to buy private liability insurance in exchange for indemnification by the government for damages in excess of coverage.
Plaintiffs adjusted by amending the complaint to add claims under federal laws for clean air, resource recovery, and environmental response.
Yandle dismissed state law claims with prejudice last June, finding Price-Anderson preempted them.
She dismissed federal resource recovery claims with prejudice.
She allowed clean air claims, finding she couldn’t conclude that Honeywell complied with its permit.
She allowed environmental response claims but found plaintiffs could only pursue costs of investigation and remediation.
Six months passed and plaintiffs made peace with Price-Anderson.
Carroll’s amendment motion states that plaintiffs collected and analyzed old and new sampling data from Honeywell’s facility and surrounding properties.
She claims material on the properties was sufficient to deliver radiation doses that violate Price-Anderson.
Excessive exposure “caused plaintiffs to suffer compensable in excess of amounts allowed under federal regulation,” she wrote.
She also wrote that the area experienced elevated rates of cancer and other radiation related problems.
She further asserts state law claims, limiting them to Honeywell’s contamination of material that wasn’t radioactive.
She filed the amended complaint as an exhibit with redactions, but asked for leave to file it without redactions.
“Plaintiffs believe that public disclosure of the material is appropriate and necessary given the significant issues of public importance involved,” she wrote.
John Galvin and Suzanne Galvin, both of Thompson Coburn in St. Louis, represent Honeywell along with Stephanie Weirick of Washington, D.C.