Second Lawsuit Expected This Week
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WATER VALLEY – A second federal lawsuit is expected to be filed this week with additional plaintiffs who were exposed to a toxic chemical at the former carburetor plant in Water Valley.
This second filing will follow a lawsuit filed on June 4 in the United States District Court for the Northern District by eight people who worked at the Holley Automotive Division of Colt Industries (renamed Coltec Industries in 1990) claiming that exposure to an industrial solvent used at the plant caused cancers and other health problems.
“We are predicting 10 or so,” attorney Drew Tominello said about the number of plaintiffs in the second lawsuit.
Tominello and George Hollowell with Hollowell Law Firm are representing the former employees and report a third suit is expected to be filed in late July with hundreds of additional plaintiffs, all former employees at the plant.
“I think it is 833,” Tominello told the Herald about the total number of plaintiffs.
“But we are getting calls all the time,” Hollowell added.
The lawsuits stem from illegal dumping of trichloroethylene, TCE, at the plant from 1972 to 1986. The high levels of TCE inside the plant is alleged to harmed employees who worked there, causing a “cancer cluster,” according to a press release from Trial Lawyers for Justice, co-counsel in the lawsuit. The release states that there are higher rates of cancer in Yalobusha County than in nearby surrounding areas.
A timeline of allegations in the first lawsuit filed starts in 1972 when the Holley Automotive Division of Colt Industries, Inc. acquired the former Ram Tool manufacturing facility located at 600 Hwy. 32 East in Water Valley and began manufacturing automotive parts including carburetors. Shortly after acquiring the facility, Colt Industries installed a vapor degreaser manufactured by Detrex Chemical Industries, Inc. to remove debris that had accumulated on the automotive parts during the fabrication. The degreaser used trichloroethylene, or TCE, to clean the automotive parts.
According to the lawsuit, the company used TCE as a solvent until January, 1987, purchasing at least 80,000 gallons of TCE. Those same records also demonstrate that the company only responsibly disposed of 5,775 gallons. Thousands of gallons of waste TCE, or used solvent that was drained from the degreaser, was allegedly dumped into a ditch behind the facility or disposed of in other improper ways including spills from a storage tank outside the plant.
The plant’s alleged negligent discharge of TCE into the surrounding environment not only contaminated the ground and underlying water table, it also contaminated the air inside the facility, according to the June 4 lawsuit.
“TCE is classified as a dense, nonaqueous phase liquid, meaning it is heavier than water and, if discharged into the environment, will tend to sink down into the ground and contaminate the water table. TCE can remain volatile in the soil for decades,” the lawsuit states.
Citing a 2021 report from the National Toxicology Program on trichloroethylene, the lawsuit states that TCE is known to be a human carcinogen. TCE exposure is linked to a wide range of physical ailments including cancers, Parkinson’s disease, eye defects, low birth weights, fetal death, major malformations, miscarriage, Hodgkins disease, impaired immune system function, neurological effects and other ailments.
Plaintiffs in the first lawsuit, and presumably in subsequent lawsuits, will seek an award in an amount to be proven at trial for past, present and future damages for physical and personal bodily injuries for which they have sought and continue to seek medical treatment.
They are also seeking damages for past, present and future pain, mental and emotional distress, anguish, depression, anxiety and loss of enjoyment of life. Other damages they are seeking include past, present and future losses for medical expenses, lost wages and loss of earning capacity; permanent disability and diminished life expectancy; pre-judgment interest; punitive and/or exemplary damages; and all other damages, according to court documents.
Hollowell shared that his firm got involved in early 2023 after Karmen Baker came to his office.
“She said, “I can’t get anybody to look at it. Will you come look at it?” Hollowell recalled.
Fast forward to July 1, 2023, and the attorneys scheduled a meeting at the Multi-Purpose Building in Coffeeville to meet with potential clients who reported health problems after working at the former carburetor plant.
“We started off that morning, it was probably 20 to 30,” Hollowell continued. “By the end of that afternoon we had two or three hundred people. There were a lot of people who were injured.”
