Anniston Star
February 27, 2003

Ruling allows Laird to stay on PCB case

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
02-27-2003

The Alabama Supreme Court removed a major obstacle to Anniston's high-profile PCB lawsuit Wednesday, denying Solutia's request to take the presiding judge off the case.

The trial, however, still appears to be on hold.

Solutia's attorneys had asked the court to make Calhoun County Circuit Judge Joel R. Laird step down, claiming that he had shown prejudice against the company in comments in court and to the press, including an alleged threat to put company officials in jail.

The attorneys also said Laird had violated court rules by talking to the media.

The case, Abernathy v. Monsanto, includes about 3,500 plaintiffs who claim that Monsanto and its spinoff, Solutia, polluted their properties and bodies with polychlorinated biphenyls.
Monsanto manufactured PCBs at its Anniston plant for decades. The chemicals have been linked to a range of health effects, including cancer.

The court ruling comes almost one year after a jury in the case found the companies liable for, among other things, suppression of the truth, negligence, trespassing and creating a public nuisance.

Soon after, the case was put on hold because of legal wrangling.

This week, the Supreme Court concluded that Laird had not acted improperly in court, even when he had expressed frustration at Solutia attorneys.

"It is unrealistic to expect a trial judge not to form opinions during the course of litigation, and the expression of those opinions is not grounds for a judge's recusal," the justices wrote.

Laird's comments to television and newspaper reporters were meant to repeat things he had said in court, or explain legal procedures to the public, the ruling said.

The high court's decision confirms an Etowah County judge's conclusion in November that Laird should remain on the case. Solutia had appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Plaintiffs' attorney Donald Stewart could not be reached for comment.

Solutia said it was "reconsidering its options" in light of the ruling.

"While we filed this motion based on a concern over an appearance of bias by the judge, we respect the decision rendered in this matter by the court," said Jeffry Quinn, Solutia's general counsel, in a statement. "There are substantive issues of law and fact that will determine the outcome of this case, not the recusal decision."

Despite the ruling, the case, which was filed in 1996, is still on hold. In November, Solutia attorneys asked the Supreme Court to stay the trial until the recusal issue was resolved.

The court has not yet lifted the stay, a source of frustration for plaintiffs.

"Turn the case loose and let justice prevail," said David Baker, president of Community Against Pollution and a litigant in the case. "It is wrong for them to hold it, it is wrong."

Other plaintiffs said their lives have stalled as they await a resolution of the lawsuit.

A resident who asked not to be named said she no longer follows the developments in the case, because there have been so many disappointments and delays.

"It depresses me," she said. "It's made me real depressed."

Like many other plaintiffs who live in the area around the plant, she said she feels trapped.

Her property has lost much of its value because of pollution, she said, so she has little incentive to use her precious few dollars on improvements.

"My house is falling down around me," she said. "But if I put money into it, I'll lose out on that money."

Her family can't afford to leave, either. She hopes to receive compensation for her property - and for effects she believes PCBs have had on her body.

"We've had a lot of people die down here," she said, adding that she has high levels of PCBs in her blood.

"I just hope they hurry up and decide what they're going to do," she said. "My heart can't take it."