(The Associated Press circulated the following article on December 15.)
CONCORD, Calif. — A group of residents who say they were exposed to toxic chemicals sued Union Pacific Railroad Co. and the family of a former mayor who they claim allowed the toxins to fester close to their homes.
About 90 residents of the Colony Park community said in a suit filed last week in Contra Costa County Superior Court that the companies and former Concord Mayor Daniel Helix knew about the toxins but never told residents.
One plaintiff, Frances Welch, said her husband died from exposure to the chemicals. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages.
The suit centers on an area near the border of Pleasant Hill and Concord that was once the site of a railroad depot owned by Southern Pacific Railway, now Union Pacific Railroad.
The area was contaminated in the 1970s by an aluminum wheel manufacturer that had leased part of the land and used toxic chemicals, the suit claimed.
Helix bought a portion of the property in 1983. The suit claims he and other investors knew about the contamination but acted with “malicious disregard” by not informing neighbors.
Helix’s lawyer, Stephen McKae, said his client did not withhold information and argued the contamination became public as early as 1989 when the county discovered it.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Kathryn Blackwell said the company did not contaminate the site and should not be held liable.