Pinellas News
Raytheon Faces Class-Action Over Groundwater Pollution
MARK DOUGLAS
News Channel 8
Published: April 15, 2008
Two class-action lawsuits have been filed against Raytheon Corp. on behalf of residents who may be affected by contaminated groundwater in the Azalea area of St. Petersburg.News Channel 8
Published: April 15, 2008
Joe Saunders, a Pinellas County attorney, filed a class-action lawsuit Monday. A Pensacola-based law firm with ties to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed Friday.
Saunders said he was contacted several weeks ago by Linda and John Swartout, residents of the Azalea neighborhood.
A legal team led by Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined the fray last week, after being contacted by another Azalea resident.
The Swartouts filed their suit after a News Channel 8, TBO.com and Tampa Tribune investigation revealed that chemicals such as vinyl chloride and 1,4-dioxane from the Raytheon site on 72nd Street are infiltrating the groundwater in the neighborhood.
The chemicals have been associated with cancer and other illnesses, according to a news release by Papantonio's firm.
Saunders said he wants Raytheon, which inherited the problem when it bought the site, to pay for medical screening of people in the neighborhood and said the stigma of contamination already has diminished property values.
The suit filed by Papantonio's team calls for Raytheon to administer medical monitoring, clean up the property and compensate affected residents for the loss in property value.
The Swartouts are alleging they "have suffered economic losses in diminution to the value of their properties, possible cost of mandatory cleanup of the toxic seepage, and face an unreasonable risk of serious health problems due to exposure to these toxic contaminants."
The state Department of Environmental Protection and Raytheon officials are on record saying the plume poses no health risk.
Saunders is a law partner of Rep. Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg.
Kriseman, a Democrat, sent a representative to a community meeting Thursday night at which residents discussed the pollution and legal options with lawyers from Washington, D.C., and New York. Saunders says Kriseman's interest in the problem is not connected to the civil action.
The DEP has known about the pollution for 16 years. The state agency signed a consent order with Raytheon's predecessor, E-Systems, in 1995 that required a thorough evaluation and cleanup of the pollution.
Neither Raytheon nor DEP told residents an underground contamination plume was moving from the plant site into the neighborhood.
Kriseman says he was in the dark until he saw the news stories.
"I represented that district for six years as a city council member and never knew about it for the entire time I represented them," he said.
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Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at mdouglas@wfla.com or (727) 536-9603.