May 10th, 2006

It has been revealed that taxpayers could end up footing a bill of $1 million or more as the result of a dispute concerning workers at a court house in Massachusetts. The workers at the court house are demanding that asbestos removal be carried out and that they are all relocated until the works have been completed.

The asbestos issue concerns a court house in Cambridge, and well over a quarter of a million dollars has already been paid out by the Romney administration as a legal fee to represent the state in hearings. This comes before a bar association committee investigates the problem.

The chief trial judge, Robert Mulligan, is also being sued, and is to be represented by the same legal firm. Workers in the building are suing Mulligan because they feel that their health could suffer as a result of the presence of asbestos fireproofing in the building.

Asbestos is a substance that was commonly used for fireproofing several decades ago, but is also a known carcinogenic that could cause deadly cancer as well as other health problems through exposure.