East Lansing wants mercury, asbestos suit thrown out
EAST LANSING -- Nearly two years after nine East Lansing employees filed suit against the city for asbestos and mercury exposure, the city is asking the state Court of Appeals to throw the case out.
East Lansing appealed an Ingham County Circuit Court judge’s ruling in the case to the state Court of Appeals in November. A stay on the trial, which was supposed to start Tuesday, was entered into court records last week.
The lawsuit was filed in January 2015 after employees working in the city’s waste water treatment plant alleged the city knowingly exposed them to asbestos and mercury.
In 2015 and again in 2016, the city asked Circuit Judge Clinton Canady III to dismiss the case, claiming that the city had governmental immunity; that the court lacked jurisdiction over the claim because it is covered exclusively by the Michigan Workers' Disability Compensation Act; and that the employees suing the city had no physical injuries. Canady denied the city's request.
“We think that the state law should be followed and the case should be dismissed,” Thomas Fleury, the lawyer representing the city, said. City Manager George Lahanas said in an email he is unable to comment on the ongoing lawsuit.
Neal Wilensky, who is representing the employees, said he is confident the case will proceed.
“We believe we have a good case and we believe the trial judge decided the matter correctly,” Wilensky said.
The suit alleges a 2007 study commissioned by the city identified asbestos in the Waste Water Treatment Plant and recommended notification of employees.
But, according the suit, the nine employees were never notified of the study and at least a few of those employees claimed they were told to “keep quiet” when they asked about the asbestos.
“It is clear that this plant was rife with asbestos, the brass knew it, willfully disregarded worker safety, and deliberately exposed employees for seven years,” Wilensky’s December response reads.
An abatement of the asbestos started in spring 2014, shortly after a summary of the 2007 asbestos study was released to workers.
Around that same time, an employee also contacted the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding an accidental spill of mercury in November 2013 that was neither cleaned nor reported properly.
The spill and the resulting risk of exposure were investigated by the Ingham County Health Department, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and MIOSHA in March and April of 2014, according to the lawsuit.
East Lansing was fined twice by MIOSHA; once for safety violations related to the asbestos and mercury issues, and a second time for new violations and because the city did not correct previous violations. The city paid a total of $21,000 to the DEQ and $13,950 to MIOSHA.
The suit was filed on behalf of Troy Williams, Allesha Morris, Jose Mireles, Kim Hopkins, Craig Walsh, Josh LaFave, Ryan Ebbinghaus, Mamuda Cham, and Kyle Smith.
Wilensky said three of the employees who filed the suit still work for the city.
Named in the suit are the city, Maintenance Supervisor Wayne Beede, Public Works Director Todd Sneathen, and Superintendent Cathryn Garnham.
In March 2015, Lahanas said Sneathen and Garnham departed for other jobs in the fall of 2014. Beede took a $26,450 settlement in November 2014 in exchange for resigning and not suing the city.
“…during all relevant time periods, Sneathen, Garnham and Beede were acting within the scope of their authority as governmental employees,” Fleury’s appeal reads. “There has never been any evidence of bad faith on the part of Sneathen, Garnham or Beede.”
Contact Reporter Beth LeBlanc at 517-377-1167 or eleblanc@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LSJBethLeBlanc.