Judge tosses suit over mining pollution
A class-action lawsuit against Silver Valley mining companies and the Union Pacific Railroad seeking monetary damages for a century of heavy metals pollution has been dismissed, but the plaintiffs plan to appeal the dismissal.
In a recent ruling, Kootenai County 1st District Judge John Luster said the lawsuit didn’t comply with Idaho’s four-year statute of limitations.
Silver Valley property owners should have been aware of the heavy metals contamination from mining after tailings ponds were built to contain the mine wastes in 1968 and should have sued by 1972, Luster said.
The case was filed in January 2002 by Steve Berman, of Seattle, a prominent plaintiffs’ attorney who helped recover $712 million for Idaho and $4.5 billion for Washington in a 1998 settlement with tobacco companies over health damages.
The total settlement for 50 states eventually totaled $368 billion.
This week, a spokesman for Berman said he’s disappointed with Judge Luster’s ruling and plans to appeal it.
Named plaintiffs in the Silver Valley case include residents of Kellogg, St. Maries and Smelterville who claim their health and the health of their children has been damaged by heavy metals poisoning from mining and smelting in the narrow valley.
Other plaintiffs allege property damages. They include Tina and Harve Paddock, Oregon residents who won an undisclosed financial settlement in 2002 with three North Idaho real estate firms in a federal lawsuit over nondisclosure of lead contamination in a house they purchased in Wallace in 1997.
The controversy triggered a federal investigation and prompted Realtors to tighten their lead disclosure procedures in the Silver Valley.
Tony and Rog Hardy are also named plaintiffs. They are activists with Citizens Against Rails to Trails, a group critical of Idaho’s agreement with the Union Pacific Railroad to create a biking and hiking trail from Mullan to Plummer where UP’s rail lines used to be.
The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is the first recreational trail in the nation built through a major Superfund site.
From 1889 to 1993, the railroad was used to bring ore in and out of the Silver Valley.
Last year, Judge Luster denied a motion by the defendants to dismiss the lawsuit, but ordered the plaintiffs to narrow their complaint.
During that hearing, attorneys for Hecla Mining Co., Asarco Inc. and Union Pacific said the complaint wrongly encompassed the entire history of mining in the Silver Valley.
Other named defendants include Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., Government Gulch Mining Company Inc., Sunshine Mining Company Inc. and Sunshine Precious Metals Inc.