ARTICLE - CLASS ACTION CHROMIUM LAWSUIT

Judge Approves Class-Action suit

Ball Field in Jersey City Contained Toxic Waste

By PETER J. SAMPSON
Staff Writer

A Hudson County judge has opened the door for thousands of children who grew up playing on a Jersey City ball field where cancer-causing chromium was dumped in the late 1940s to participate in a class-action suit seeking to have them tested and monitored for life.

"There could be obviously thousands of people involved here, knowing the use that these fields in Jersey City get," Angelo J. Cifaldi, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said Saturday.

Notices alerting potential class members of their eligibility will be published in newspapers and magazines. Posters will be hung within a three-mile radius of the ball field and in all hospitals in Jersey City.

In what Cifaldi described as a first in a toxic contamination case, Superior Court Judge Mark A. Baber certified a chromium-exposure class action on Friday for all participants of recreational activities at Metrofield and the adjoining playground on West Side Avenue.

Any individual who played on the site for an equivalent of at least 10 ball games (approximately 20 hours) prior to the cleanup of the site is eligible to be included in the class action.

Besides current Jersey City residents, class members could include people who have moved to other communities, or out-of-town children whose baseball leagues frequented the field, the attorney said.

Between coaches and others who ran recreational programs, Cifaldi said, "it shouldn't be too difficult" to prove eligibility.

"I don't think it would be very hard for people who lived nearby, either," he added. "Allied Signal can be a responsible citizen. If we can show that they are responsible, they will be fair and try to resolve the matter. I can't say the same about a lot of other companies I've dealt with."

Cifaldi's law firm, the Woodbridge-based Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, sued Allied Signal and its predecessors in October 1992 on behalf of 18 children.
The plaintiffs said they suffered ailments including rashes, stomach pains, sinus and respiratory problems, chronic colds, sore throats, and severe headaches. All had played on Metrofield, which closed in March 1992 after state officials found chromium up to 400 times higher than safe levels.

Cifaldi said a former plant worker, tracked down in Arizona, has given a sworn deposition that Allied's predecessor, the Mutual Chemical Co. of America, dumped chromium waste, a known carcinogen, on the site to create a playing field for the company softball team. Workers used the field for about two years, then stopped after complaining to the company that team members were developing chrome sores, he said.

"Once they found out their people were getting sick on the field, they held the field for awhile, then turned it over to the city without telling them," Cifaldi said.
The suit seeks damages in the form of medical-monitoring expenses, as well as personal-injury damages for exposure to chromium.

Cifaldi said the plaintiffs' expert, Dr. Michael Gochfeld of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, has recommended that anyone who used the field for more than 20 hours be medically monitored to maintain good health and to prevent or control cancer through early detection.

He said the plaintiffs are seeking to set up a medical database and a program that would include educating members about potential risks and symptoms.