Judge Delays Statute of Limitations in Class-Action Suit against Wood Treatment Plant

By Daniel Hawn

Published on December 28, 2006

Kerr-McGee, now Tronox, is facing a suit in federal court that accuses the plant of wrongful death and causing cancer and birth defects in nearby residents.

The plant, now closed, produced telephone poles and railroad crossties treated with the known carcinogen creosote.

The suit, claiming pollution of air, soil, and water, was filed in Sept. 2004.

Though the law allows two years for family members to sue for wrongful death, federal Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven found there to be sufficient evidence in the Kerr-McGee case to support a delay on the statute. The delay will enable more affected families to participate in the suit, since the two-year time limit will not take effect until there is full discovery of the alleged part played by Kerr-McGee in the deaths of Texarcana residents.

Federal Judge David Folsom of the Eastern District of Texas must approve Craven’s decision before it is final.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania against Kerr-McGee treatment plants in those states.

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