Holley residents pursue lawsuit against Diaz Chemical

Residents of Holley, both current and former, have banded together to sign retainers in a class action lawsuit against Diaz Chemical. The lawsuit is being filed because of a January 5 incident which leaked about 80 gallons of chemicals into the community.

Richard J. Lippes, of Allen and Lippes, of Buffalo was hired by the residents. Lippes was the attorney for residents of the Love Canal area in Niagara Falls during the famous 1978 case.

More than 50 residents gathered January 22 at the Holiday Inn Express in Brockport to discuss the lawsuit. Lippes will sue for property damage, personal injury and health-related injuries “caused by toxic and other contaminating or dangerous substances,” according to forms distributed to residents.

Diaz Vice President Clifton Jenney said the company is making every effort to clean up the damage caused by the chemical leak. “We are dealing with each homeowner’s concerns on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “Our desired outcome is to get these issues resolved.”

Resident Andrew Saul said the events of January 5 have attached a destructive and undeserved stigma to Holley. “This type of thing drives down property values in Holley,” he said. “Part of our lawsuit is to recover the loss in property value.”

Saul said Diaz has to get serious about the clean up of the houses and they need to do a better job of reclaiming the water washed from the houses during the clean up process.

“We have a situation where this chemical company has not been held to a high enough standard by the state,” he said. “We hope our lawsuit will compel Diaz to stop polluting and that this will compel change.”

A clause will be written into the lawsuit, Saul said, that will hold the company accountable down the road.

“We will document who had what and when and it will be possible to make the connection and have mechanics in place to compensate victims of the chemical spill,” he said. “Common sense tells us that the people of this town need reasonable compensation.”

Saul said Diaz is now dealing with a town which is fed up with being subjected, against their will, to the chemicals released from Diaz.

On January 22, residents named Rick Catlin chairman. He will help coordinate communications and efforts for the group. A phone tree was also formed and residents have committed themselves to compiling a newsletter to keep information about the case in the forefront.

Affected residents were urged to save receipts for expenses due to the Diaz incident. As part of the lawsuit, they may only be able to recover those costs. A third of any compensation received under the lawsuit will go to the attorney to cover the upfront fee as well as hourly costs.

About 20 families are still staying in a hotel because they say their homes are unsafe.

“We should see people moving back into their homes soon,” Jenney said. “We keep pressing forward in our clean up efforts and to getting all of this resolved.”

Regional Toxic Coordinator for the state Department of Health, Dave Napier, said at the January 16 community meeting that it may be impossible to remove all of the chemicals from the houses. He also said the state is working on a test to measure the presence of the chemicals on surfaces and in the air. Because the chemical is so new, he said, the test could take months to develop.

The January 5 chemical leak was blamed on “human error.” The chemicals released included a mixture of toluene, water and 2-chloro-6 fluorophenol. Because the chemical is so new to the market, state and federal officials don’t know the long-term effects of it. Short term effects to exposure from the chemicals causes headaches, burning eyes and sore throats.

At the public meeting two weeks ago, Jenney apologized to residents but urged them to work with the company that has been hired to clean up the homes. Residents need to be available to let the clean up crews into the homes, he said.

Jenney said the company has hired a consultant to come in and help make changes in the duct work inside the facility to minimize the chance of reoccurrence.