Originally posted by Dan Horn - Cincinnati Enquirer - September 13, 2009
More than 200 residents near the old Chevron refinery in Whitewater Township will find out next week what a jury thinks of their multimillion-dollar claim that the oil company dumped toxic waste into their soil and water.
The jury's verdict is not binding because it will be part of a summary jury trial, which is essentially a practice trial designed to help both sides settle the case.
But the outcome could move the hard-fought case closer to a resolution after years of battling in court.
The case began more than five years ago when residents sued Chevron in federal court in Cincinnati, accusing the company of harming their health and property values with contamination from the now-closed refinery. They say the company knew about the risks to residents but did nothing to prevent spills and other toxic releases.
They also accused company officials of concealing the extent of the contamination from residents and federal regulators.
The company "knowingly, intentionally and maliciously conspired to mislead and defraud the governmental agencies and ... communities," lawyers for the residents wrote in a court filing last week.
The lawyers said the refinery, which operated for 54 years before closing in 1985, dumped so many pollutants into the ground and water that residents now suffer from a variety of physical ailments, such as asthma, liver problems and other conditions.
The pollution also has reduced property values around the refinery, especially in Cleves and Hooven, the residents say.
"When you try to sell our houses, you have to let them know about Chevron," said Velma Cates, who recently joined the lawsuit. "It has dropped the value of our property."
Lawyers for the residents and the company either declined to comment or could not be reached.
But Chevron has argued in U.S. District Court that toxic releases from the refinery have not hurt residents' health or property values.
Company lawyers say Chevron, which bought the refinery after acquiring Gulf Oil Co., quickly closed the facility and launched a $100 million investigation and clean-up of the property. They say investigators discovered a plume of leaked fuel oil in the groundwater, but they concluded it was too deep to threaten residents' health.
"The plume poses no health risk and has never posed a health risk to Hooven residents," company lawyers wrote in a recent court filing.
The company also disputes residents' claims that their proximity to the old refinery, near the Great Miami River, creates an "environmental stigma" that lowers property values.
"The opinion that there has been any diminution in value ... is speculative and derived from unscientific and unreliable techniques," company lawyers say.
Residents are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages and a jury trial is set for October before Judge Sandra Beckwith. But before a full-blown trial, both sides will take part in the summary jury trial next week in hopes of settling the case.
Summary jury trials are rare but have been used before in Ohio and other states. Each side presents an abbreviated form of their case to an actual jury and then awaits a non-binding decision, which can then be used to develop the terms and monetary value of a potential out-of-court settlement.
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