BENTON – Metropolis residents who asserted every kind of claim but the obvious one in a uranium exposure suit against Honeywell for two years gained permission to assert the obvious one.
On May 27, U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle granted them leave to sue under the national Price-Anderson Act, which regulates liability for radiation exposure.
Honeywell asserted from the outset that Price-Anderson applied, and Yandle dismissed almost all claims on that basis last June.
The Act provides public funds for compensation of parties in nuclear incidents and limits liability for such incidents.
Plaintiffs moved to add Price-Anderson claims by amending the complaint, and Honeywell opposed the amendment.
Honeywell counsel John Galvin of St. Louis wrote, “After three years, plaintiffs should be able to plead actual, not hypothetical, facts if they have them.”
He alleged undue delay, bad faith, dilatory motive, repeated failure to cure known deficiencies, undue prejudice, and futility.
Yandle found his rendition of procedural history wasn’t totally accurate.
She found discovery to date was tailored to statutory and tort claims whether standing alone or brought under Price-Anderson.
She found Honeywell would suffer no prejudice because Honeywell knew plaintiffs would replead if she dismissed their claims.
“There is also no undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive by plaintiffs simply because they waited for the court’s ruling on the motion to dismiss prior to seeking leave to amend,” she wrote.
“Honeywell’s contention that plaintiffs’ allegations do not adequately state claims for relief may appropriately be raised by a motion to dismiss.”
James Clayborne of Belleville filed the suit for Roger Steward and other individuals in 2018, while holding office as Illinois Senate majority leader.
He claimed a plant making uranium hexafluoride emitted radioactive materials and other toxins from 1963 to 2017.
He alleged negligence, trespass, nuisance, property damage, failure to warn, ultra hazardous activity, gross negligence, and emotional distress, all under state law.
In 2019, he added claims under federal laws on clean air, resource conservation, and response compensation.
He wrote that Steward’s claims didn’t fall within Price-Anderson’s scope.
Yandle dismissed the clean air claim with prejudice, finding plaintiffs referred to a regulation that applies only to federal agencies.
She dismissed the resource recovery claim with prejudice, finding the law applies to solid waste and excludes nuclear materials.
She allowed a resource compensation claim but limited damages to the costs of investigating and remedying a release or a threatened release.
Clayborne leads a legal team from Chicago, Louisiana, and West Virginia.
Yandle plans trial in August.