Downwinders Judge Accused Of ‘Lawless’ Secrecy Retired Seattle Attorney Also Criticizes Lawyers Of Irradiated Plaintiffs

Hanford downwinders exposed to secret radiation clouds during the Cold War now face legal betrayal, says a noted Seattle attorney.

U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald, the federal judge in charge of the massive Hanford downwinders lawsuit, is using “lawless” secrecy orders to dictate the outcome of the case, said Leonard Schroeter of Seattle.

“Downwinders are at grave risk. McDonald comes from a long line of federal judges who have done the same thing - betrayed the victims of America’s nuclear disasters,” Schroeter said.

In a speech in Spokane on Thursday to the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, Schroeter lambasted the Yakima judge’s handling of the case.

“We all need to stand up and demand that everything in this case be made public. Ultimately, the crime of secrecy is as great as the original crime” of exposing American citizens to radiation, Schroeter said.

Without a properly conducted trial, Hanford’s legacy will never be faced, the attorney said.

“There has to be a process where Hanford’s victims are are recognized. At a minimum we should do what McNamara did with Vietnam. But we should also pay,” Schroeter said.

He rapped McDonald’s decision to seal a report by Dr. Thomas Pigford, a nationally known nuclear engineer, that says a $27 million government study of the Hanford releases downplays dangers to the downwinders.

The Spokesman-Review reported Pigford’s conclusions in a Jan. 20 story.

McDonald has since denied the newspaper’s motion to make the report public. The newspaper is appealing the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

McDonald has no legal basis to use Pigford as a confidential expert, Schroeter said.

“It’s the function of the adversary system to get at the evidence,” Schroeter said.

He also chastised the downwinders’ lawyers for not objecting to McDonald’s secrecy orders.

One of the lawyers, Tom Foulds of Seattle, questioned Schroeter’s criticism of the five-year-old case.

“It’s not that we should be immune from criticism. But we are now hearing from somebody who decided early on to take a pass on this case,” Foulds said.

Schroeter, who retired in 1989 from active practice, said he could not interest his law partners in the Hanford case.

Two leading downwinders say they agree with Schroeter.

“I’m very angry about McDonald,” said Tom Bailie, a Mesa, Wash., farmer.

“I fear what’s happening is what’s happened with all these radiation cases. The judge doesn’t want a long case, and the lawyers don’t want to deal with victims’ illnesses.

“They get together, settle, and create a medical monitoring fund. The downwinders get nothing,” Bailie said.

The public isn’t hearing the central issues of the Hanford suit, said Lois Camp of Lacrosse, Wash.

“This is the time for downwinders to stand up and say something,” Camp said.

Bailie and Camp are among thousands who filed suit in 1990 against the private corporations that ran Hanford for the government. They claim their health was damaged by emissions from plutonium factories.

A Harvard Law School graduate, Schroeter is a founder of the state’s largest personal injury law firm, Schroeter, Goldmark and Bender. He has worked on several landmark toxic tort cases, including the Agent Orange, asbestos and Bunker Hill lead poisoning litigations.