Village Receives Check From Settlement of Class Action Lawsuits

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By ANDREW WILSON
Record Herald Writer
Courtesy of the Record Herald; Printed 2.1.13

WEST MILTON – Last week, the West Milton Village Public Water System received a check for $83,468.66 from a settlement of two class action lawsuits that involved Atrazine, the most commonly used herbicide in the country. The case, which was originally filed in Greenville, Ill. in 2004, expanded to other states in 2010.

The lawsuits were against Syngenta AG, the world’s largest Atrazine manufacturer, with the water systems being represented by the St. Louis law firm of Korein Tillery and the Dallas firm of Baron and Budd.

According to a press release from Korein Tillery, an estimated 80 million pounds of Atrazine is sprayed on corn and other crops every year, with the majority of it going to rivers and streams that supply drinking water to community water systems like the city of West Milton. Furthermore, Korein Tillery estimated that 37 million people live in the areas served by the claimants in this case.

In a Jan. 31 article in the Madison-St. Clair Record, a weekly legal journal in Edwardsville, Ill., “Greenville alleges that Atrazine made by the Syngenta defendants runs off farm fields and contaminates water supplies that the plaintiffs must then remediate.” The article added that two environmental groups, the Environmental Law and Policy Center and the Prairie Rivers Network, have filed to unseal documents in a federal atrazine class action suit against Syngenta.

The civil settlement was finalized on Oct. 23, 2012, when Judge Phil Roberts of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois approved a $105 million nationwide Atrazine settlement.

Stephen Tillery, who served as the lead attorney on the case, stated that “the percentage of of participation by class members was unprecedented. Every cent of the settlement fund will be distributed to class members.”

Tillery also said, “The scope of this settlement is enormous. These settlement funds will be used to help protect the health of millions of people across the country.”

After the judge handed down his decision, 1,085 cities and towns from Hawaii to Florida filed claims seeking a portion of the $105 million settlement. All of the cities and towns would receive payments based on the levels, frequency and duration of Atrazine in their water. The way that the settlement funds would be appropriated is up to the respective city managers.

According to Matt Kline, municipal manager of West Milton, the city had received notification of a class action lawsuit in the spring of 2012 and immediately forwarded it to Law Director Chuck Sell’s office. Sell checked with Utilities Superintendent Tim Swartztrauber to see if any of the village’s previous water tests had tested positive for Atrazine. Swartztrauber reviewed the village’s records and found that a positive sign of Atrazine showed up in several tests. Sell filed the proper paperwork and a check was received this week. Staff is currently in discussion over how the money will be used.

“As for now, we have deposited the check into our accounts and for accounting purposes we have included it into our Water Capital Improvement Fund,” Kline said. “We have a couple of highly needed projects/improvements at our water treatment facility which this money may be used to help accomplish. But ultimately, it will be council’s decision as to what we shall do with the money.”

 

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