SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today the Gomez Trial Attorneys, along with the national law firm of Baron & Budd have filed a class action on behalf of teachers and students of Magnolia Elementary located in El Cajon. The case has been filed against AMETEK, Inc. AMETEK was the long time property owner located just feet from the elementary school and was engaged in the business of manufacturing aircraft engine parts for decades.
According to the Complaint, from the 1960s to 1985, AMETEK constructed a hole in the ground and dumped its waste chemicals in the sump hole resulting in the largest chlorinated solvent underground plume in California history. The chemicals dumped into the sump hole included: TCE, PCE, 1,1-DCE, 1,1,1-TCA and 1,1-DCA. After the chemicals were dumped, they allegedly migrated under the neighboring school and have exposed students and teachers at the school to these chemicals for decades through vapor intrusion up through the ground and into the classrooms.
While the California DTSC has attempted for years to require AMETEK to fully delineate the extent of the contamination and to further clean it up, AMETEK has failed to perform the necessary work despite the neighboring school being located just next door.
“Even harsh fines by the DTSC have not resulted in AMETEK doing the right thing,” according to attorney John Gomez of the Gomez Trial Attorneys. “It is a shame that AMETEK deliberately did nothing to prevent or minimize the contamination of these students and teachers.”
In fact, recent testing by the DTSC has revealed high concentrations of chemicals continuing to intrude into the classrooms of the schools. “One has to wonder what these levels would have been in the past as innocent teachers and students would have attended the school for many years without knowledge of their own exposure,” Gomez also stated.
Well-known environmental lawyer Scott Summy of Baron & Budd also criticized AMETEK. “I have been involved in many significant environmental cases across the United States and the conduct by AMETEK in this case is appalling and is as bad as anything I have seen,” Summy said.
The Complaint seeks medical monitoring on behalf of current and former teachers and students.
ABOUT BARON & BUDD, P.C.
The law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Austin and Los Angeles, is a nationally recognized law firm with a nearly 40-year history of "Protecting What's Right" for people, communities and businesses harmed by negligence. Baron & Budd's size and resources enable the firm to take on large and complex cases. The firm represents individuals and government and business entities in areas as diverse as dangerous pharmaceuticals and medical devices, environmental contamination, the Gulf oil spill, financial fraud, overtime violations, deceptive advertising, automotive defects, trucking accidents, nursing home abuse, and asbestos-related illnesses such as mesothelioma.
