41 plaintiffs dropped in Willits toxins suit

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed 41 plaintiffs from a nearly decade-old class-action case alleging injury from toxic contamination at the defunct Remco Hydraulics plant in Willits.

It's the latest snag in a civil case that has dragged through the courts since 1999.

"We still don't even have a trial date," said Bill Simpich, who represents plaintiffs in Avila v. PepsiAmericas.

He said he will appeal Wednesday's ruling, which eliminated all but 15 plaintiffs from the case.

The plaintiffs were dismissed because they did not live in Willits prior to 1988, most of them because they had not yet been born.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled the plaintiffs had failed to adequately draw a connection between their health problems and the chemicals used at Remco. The plant conducted chrome-plating operations from 1964 to 1995, when it went bankrupt and closed, leaving behind a legacy of chemical contamination that is still being cleaned up.

The court has held that PepsiAmericas, which inherited millions of dollars in contamination and cleanup costs when it acquired Remco as part of another purchase a few years ago, is not responsible for civil liabilities after 1988.

Simpich disagrees the civil liabilities end in 1988 and believes a higher court will agree.

Hundreds of other plaintiffs previously have dropped out of the class-action lawsuit, most of them after they were offered settlement agreements, he said.

Most of those plaintiffs had cancer and received offers while Erin Brockovich -- made famous by a movie about her work on another chemical exposure case -- was involved, he said.

Cancer, particularly lung cancer, has been strongly linked to hexavalent chromium, which was used in the chrome-plating process, Simpich said.

Other illnesses are not as firmly linked with chemicals used at the plant and their connections are harder to prove, he said.

Other chemicals that have raised concern, Simpich said, include the solvent trichloroethylene and dioxins.

The ailments from which the remaining clients suffer include diabetes, chronic bladder infections and bone anomalies such as club feet, Simpich said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.