Toms
River Childhood Cancer Cases
Background: A Legacy of Industrial Pollution
Toms River is the name of a river and suburb in southern New Jersey, within the municipality of Dover Township. Over a period decades, chemical plants, including ones owned by Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation and Union Carbide Corporation, and other area business released industrial pollutants into the Toms River. In addition, a host of other industrial pollutants leached into the township's groundwater supply. The pollutants included chemicals used in the manufacture of epoxies, resins and dyestuffs.
In 1995, a state study found that the incidence of cancer among children in Toms River was higher than any other part of the state. In Dover Township, it was reported that 90 children were found to have various types of cancer between 1979 and 1995. Since the original cases, 28 more children there have been found to have cancer, the families said. Sixteen of the 118 children have died.
Case Resolved Without Litigation
With co-counsel, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP represented 69 families, each with children having cancer, that claimed the cancers were caused by environmental contamination in the Toms River area. Unique to many other environmental disputes, the parties - the 69 families, Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation, Union Carbide Corporation and United Water Resources, Inc., a water distributor in the area - decided to seek to resolve the case through alternative dispute resolution instead of filing a lawsuit.
Commencing in 1998, the parties entered into an extended exchange of information in an effort to resolve the matter. Eventually, under the supervision of a mediator, a settlement was reached at the end of 2001. As the settlement involved the rights of minors, it was reviewed and approved by a New Jersey judge.
Joint Public Statement
On December 13, 2001, the following joint public statement was issued today by those attorneys representing the families -- Steven Fineman of Lieff Cabraser; Mark Cuker and Esther Berezofsky of Williams, Cuker & Berezofsky; and Jan Schlichtmann -- on behalf of all of the parties involved:
Representatives of sixty-nine (69) families in Toms River, NJ and three companies -- Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation, Union Carbide Corporation, and United Water Resources Inc. -- today announced a settlement in principle regarding childhood cancer concerns and other claims of the families. The settlement concludes more than three years of dialogue between the families and the companies, and was achieved without resort to litigation or admission of any liability on the part of the companies. The final settlement requires court approval for family members who are still minors.
The terms and conditions of the settlement are confidential. However, all the parties expressed satisfaction with the settlement terms and believe the settlement will bring a measure of closure to the families so that they may pursue their lives without the distraction or burden of litigation.
The settlement is the culmination of a lengthy series of events that began in 1995 following the public release of New Jersey cancer registry data, which suggested a higher than expected incidence of some forms of cancer among some groups of children in Toms River. In 1997 the families brought their concerns to the companies, since the families were principally focusing on a possible link between childhood cancer rates and environmental factors. Ciba Specialty Chemicals and Union Carbide were and continue today to implement cleanups at two Superfund sites in Toms River -- the Ciba-Geigy Superfund site and Reich Farms site, respectively. United Water Resources is the parent company of the public water supply company, then known as Toms River Water Company.
Instead of immediate litigation, however, the families and the companies entered into a "Tolling/Standstill Agreement," effective February 1, 1998, that established a period of time within which to engage in a dialogue designed to forestall any immediate litigation and to encourage communication.
Since that time, and culminating with today's announcement, the families and the companies have engaged in serious and forthright discussions, an extensive exchange of written and oral information, and a facilitated mediation process through Resolutions, Inc. of Boston, MA. With the assistance of numerous technical, scientific, and medical experts, the parties exchanged detailed factual, scientific, and technical information and studied the scientific basis for the childhood health concerns.
Ultimately, the detailed scientific inquiry failed to result in any agreement that any of the companies were responsible for the conditions that gave rise to the families' claims. All involved agreed that a settlement would best advance the community's interest and involvement in the public health issues being studied, and would foster the productive and cooperative approach the families and companies have experienced through their dialogue since 1998.
Based primarily on these factors, the families and companies reached a settlement to bring closure to the families' claims.
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About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a fifty-plus attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. We represent plaintiffs in class and group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving substantial losses. For the last six years, the National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation.
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