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March 15th, 2006
It has been revealed that local residents from Apollo and Parks Township that filed lawsuits against Babcock & Wilcox for casing various cancers through exposure to radioactive materials may be no closer to receiving any settlement despite the fact that the company emerged from bankruptcy last month. The company was successfully sued in 1998 by eight plaintiffs who alleged that their cancers had been caused by exposure to carcinogenic materials from the company’s Kiski Valley plant.
The ruling stipulated that the company was to pay over thirty six million dollars in compensation. However, the settlement was never paid due to claims of errors in the trial. In order to avoid another trial its was decided that the plaintiffs and the company would try and reach an out of court settlement. However, in 2000 the company filed for bankruptcy after being hit with a number of lawsuits.
The announcement regarding the company’s emergence from bankruptcy came last week. A spokesperson stated: "We're back where we were before the bankruptcy began. There are ongoing discussions that I'm hopeful will result in a resolution." He also added that if further negotiations with regards to a settlement are not successful the matter will have to return to the courts.
The lawsuits that were originally filed alleged that the plaintiffs suffered ill health due to contamination of the air, land and water, from the radioactive materials released by the nuclear plant. However, lawyers for the company had retaliated stating that the emission had been properly dealt with and would not have been substantial enough to cause such illnesses.
