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San Francisco Law Firm Victorious in Huge Environmental Case
Longest Civil Trial in Sonoma County History Ends With a Win
Collette Erickson Farmer & O'Neill LLP (CEFO) recently completed a 41/2 month jury trial, the longest civil trial in the history of Sonoma County, with a complete victory and total vindication for its client, Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc. (OCLI), a subsidiary of JDS Uniphase Corporation. The case, Clark, et al. v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, et al., Sonoma County Superior Court Case No. SCV 227896, involved 32 plaintiffs who claimed defendants were responsible for contaminating their drinking water wells. The case was filed in September, 2001, by the law firm of Masry & Vititoe, the firm featured in the Academy Award winning movie "Erin Brockovich." Plaintiffs were seeking $640 million in damages.
Facts
Union Pacific Railroad Company owned land in Santa Rosa, which it had leased to various scrap yards. In 2000, drinking water wells were found to be contaminated with chlorinated solvents. Thirty-two individuals who lived and worked in an area approximately half a mile away from the Union Pacific property sued several defendants, including Union Pacific, CEFO's client OCLI, the City of Santa Rosa, the County of Sonoma, the State of California, and the landlord of a dry cleaner located in plaintiffs' neighborhood, for the contamination.
Plaintiffs' Contentions
Plaintiffs argued that the Union Pacific land had been leased to scrap yard operators for about 20 years, during which time chlorinated solvents were released into soil and groundwater. Plaintiffs also contended that OCLI improperly disposed of solvents on Union Pacific's property during the 1960s and 1970s. Plaintiffs argued that the groundwater carried the contaminants from the Union Pacific property to the residents' wells and that sewers and ditches transported the contaminants from the Union Pacific property to the plaintiffs' wells. Plaintiffs offered a "groundwater flow model" showing the contaminants flow path on a predicted timeline.
Defendants' Contentions
Defendants argued that the types of chemicals found in plaintiffs' well water were not the same as the ones associated with Union Pacific's property and therefore must have come from another source. Defendants argued that the contamination was caused by two neighborhood dry cleaners that improperly disposed of the same types of chemicals found in plaintiffs' wells in 2000. Defendants argued that plaintiffs' "flow model" produced unreliable and inaccurate conclusions based on flawed assumptions. Defendants also argued that tests of wells in plaintiffs' area done in the early 1990s showed no evidence of contamination. Defendants argued that if the contamination was caused by chemicals migrating from Union Pacific's property there would have been evidence of contamination at the time of those tests.
OCLI also argued that there was no admissible evidence that the chemicals found at the Union Pacific property or in plaintiffs' wells came from OCLI.
First Trial
The case first went to trial in 2006 and resulted in a mistrial caused by plaintiffs' counsels' misconduct. Prior to trial, the City of Santa Rosa settled for $1.5 million, the County of Sonoma settled for $750,000, and the landlord of the neighborhood dry cleaner settled for $400,000.
Defendant State of California was dismissed on a motion for summary judgment. See Clark, et al. v. Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., et al. (2008) 165 Cal. App. 4th 150; 80 Cal. Rptr. 3d 812; 2008 Cal. App. LEXIS 1147
Second Trial
The second trial commenced April 28, 2009 against the only remaining defendants, Union Pacific and OCLI. Prior to the second trial, plaintiffs demanded $13 million from OCLI and were seeking three times that amount from defendant Union Pacific. OCLI offered $75,000 in settlement. No settlement offer was made by Union Pacific.
During the course of the second trial, which lasted until September 17 when the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants, there were 56 witnesses and over 10,000 pages of exhibits.
The jury took less than two hours to reach a defense verdict completely exonerating defendants Union Pacific and OCLI.
After the trial, the Court awarded OCLI costs in excess of $700,000 against plaintiffs personally. Union Pacific was awarded costs in excess of $300,000. The State of California had previously been awarded costs in excess of $500,000.
CEFO Personnel
CEFO lawyers involved in the case were John V. Erickson, Robert S. Lawrence, Robert O. Divelbiss, Andrew H. Pontious and Timothy M. Wong. Paralegals Monette Villavicencio, Marga Dalsfoist, Kristi Vera-Martinez and Cherilyn Huerto also assisted in the case.
For more information
Please contact Monette Villavicencio, Marketing Coordinator at Collette Erickson Farmer & O'Neill LLP on +1 (415) 788 4646.
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