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ead the news article below as published in the Lodi News-Sentinel. Who
would ever think a City would wage a war like this upon scores of
businessmen and innocent 3rd party commercial property owners? Every
mother's son, both living and dead, going up to 70 years back in time are
now forced to hire expensive lawyers to defend everything they own against
losing it all to a City gung-ho for ill-gotten gains. Stay away from Lodi,
CA; there is no more hostile, unAmerican place in the United States!
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ADDITION OF 120 PARTIES IN POLLUTION LAWSUIT 'VERY CURIOUS,' ATTORNEY SAYS
By Layla Bohm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Most of the 120 additional parties named Wednesday by the city of Lodi in
an ongoing pollution lawsuit aren't strangers to the case. The main
difference is that, until Wednesday, they hadn't been sued by the city.
It was a move that both a defense attorney and Mayor Larry Hansen agreed
should have been done years ago, after a state agency conducted an
investigation into carcinogenic chemicals lurking in the soil and water.
But Aaron Bowers, who represents Odd Fellows Hall Associates and several
other parties in the case, questioned the timing, considering that the city
has been trying to settle the case.
"For the city to say that they want to resolve the case and then do this,
in conjunction with substantial litigation dollars, it's all very curious,"
he said.
Last month, the City Council budgeted $2.2 million to pay for legal fees
related to the case in the next six months. That doesn't include more than
$25 million already spent on the case, or more fees for consultants and
engineers.
The amended lawsuit could also start many legal cycles all over again,
including discovery, which can be a drawn-out process, Bowers said.
Most parties named in the amended lawsuit still hadn't seen the lawsuit,
but one business had already contacted Mayor Larry Hansen by Thursday
morning. Whether more fallout will follow remains to be seen.
Until Wednesday, the city itself had only named 20 parties in the ongoing
federal groundwater contamination suit. Most of the new ones had already
been dragged into the case by other parties.
One business, Cain Electric Works, 230 N. Church St., was slightly involved
in the litigation but has been working with a state agency to clean up its
own contamination, said owner Ida Weber.
Weber had no idea she and the business were named in the lawsuit, and she
said Thursday afternoon that she had not been served with a suit.
Bowers hadn't seen the lawsuit Thursday, but he wondered how this latest
development might further hinder cleanup.
"Once again, the environment's the loser," he said.
In 2000, the city sued 15 local businesses, including the Lodi
News-Sentinel, in an effort to make their insurers pay to clean up the
pollution. That number was increased to 20 defendants a few months later.
Since then, the case had grown to include more than 100 parties, but the
city itself had not sued more people. That changed Wednesday.
Those listed in the amended lawsuit range from businesses to deceased
business owners to relatives of the deceased business owners. The list
includes Fred Weybret, chairman of the News-Sentinel.
Though many have previously been involved in the case, some were named for
the first time in the recent filing.
Lakewood Mall and its owners, Stone Brothers & Associates, for instance,
had never been involved in the case. But they were named Wednesday because
a dry cleaning company is on the property.
"Our knowledge of it is limited to what we saw in the papers this morning
and we haven't been served yet," Property Manager Wade Sellers said
Thursday.
Some of those listed were included in the lawsuit because they owned
property at some point, even if it was only a year or two.
Others, like Ramirez Motors, are listed in the suit as a "business entity
of a form presently unknown."
And, while some business owners are named along with their businesses,
other business owners are not named.
Most of the reasoning behind the added parties comes from a state
investigation done in 1995 and 1996 by the Northeast Research Institute.
That investigation, cited by the city's attorneys in Wednesday's filing,
identified 43 possible contamination sources.
"We haven't named a lot of new people. This is a preliminary look a who
else may be responsible, and it's the city's responsibility to do that.
This is something that should have been done before," Mayor Larry Hansen
said.
Neither City Attorney Stephen Schwabauer nor attorneys with Folger, Levin &
Kahn, the city's outside law firm, could be reached for comment. They were
in an all-day mediation session with the city's insurance company.
Bowers also wondered why individuals were named. If the goal is to find
insurers who should pay, he wondered what environmental insurance
individuals could have that their business would not have.
"Are personal assets now at stake? I don't know and that's troubling," he
said.
That's something that will have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis,
Hansen said.
"How far we're going to go with these businesses remains to be seen," he
said.
Pollution suit defendants
A listing of parties named by the city in its recent pollution filing, with
the names of those parties previously sued by the city in bold:
M&P Investments
Estate of Dwight Alquist, deceased
Jack Alquist
Alquist Family Trust
Estate of Alvin Allmendinger, deceased
American Stores Properties, Inc.
Beckman & Co., Inc.
Beckman Capital Corporation
Angelina Comporato
Guild Cleaners, Inc.
Lodi Dodge Chrysler Plymouth, Inc.
Lodi News-Sentinel
Lucky Stores, Inc.
David Mustin
Odd Fellows Hall Association of Lodi, Inc.
Estate of Frank Paul, deceased
Estate of Raymond Roemmich, deceased
Alfred P. Roes
Weil Family Trust
Estate of Jack M. Weil, deceased
Marlowe F. Weil
Estate of Arthur W. Marquardt, deceased
Estate of Carolyn J. Marquardt, deceased
Estate of Clyde C. Church, deceased
Estate of Emma Helen Church, deceased
Frederick Weybret
Ackel Investment Co.
Charles Ackel
Lustre-Cal Nameplate Corp.
William Ackel, as trustee of the August Ackel Trust
William Ackel, as trustee of the Norma Ackel Trust
William Ackel, as administrator of the Norma Ackel Trust
Estate of Norma Ackel, deceased
Northridge Mills, Inc.
Estate of Norval Gundershaug, deceased
Gundershaug Electric Co.
Thomas Gundershaug
Wright Motors
Ehlers Auto
Ehlers Holding, Inc.
Loren Ehlers
Mercedes Ehlers
Cain Electrical Works
Herman C. Weber
Ida P. Weber
JD's Body & Paint
Lodi Chrome
Super Mold Corporation
Intercole Subsidiary Inc. (aka Cable Design Technologies Inc.)
Intercole Automation Inc.
Super Mold Corporation
Kayser Roth Corp.
Delta Sportswear, Inc.
Taren Holdings Inc.
Brad C. Benson
Elizabeth Benson
Estate of Nancy Lee Benson, deceased
Her
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