Uranium Processing Mill Contaminated Colorado

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Friday July 17, 10:01 am Eastern Time

Company Press Release

Los Angeles Lawyers Get Multi-million Dollars Punitive Damages Verdict

Federal Jury Says Uranium Processing Mill Contaminated Colorado 
Community

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 1998--A federal jury on Wednesday 
returned a unanimous verdict in favor of plaintiffs and against Cotter 
Corporation, awarding over $2.9 million in compensatory and punitive 
damages. 

The award included the maximum amount of punitive damages allowed by 
Colorado law. 

The jury, which consisted of six women and two men, returned its verdict 
after six and one half hours of deliberation. The month-long trial was 
held in Federal Court in Denver. 

The plaintiffs -- 14 residents of Lincoln Park, Colo. -- were 
contaminated by hazardous waste from a uranium processing mill owned by 
the Cotter Corp. The jury also found that all the plaintiffs are 
entitled to lifetime medical monitoring due to increased risk of cancer. 
The court will hold a later hearing to determine the cost and protocol 
for the monitoring program, which Cotter will have to fund. 

Serving as lead counsel for the plaintiffs was Suzelle M. Smith, a 
founding partner of Howarth & Smith, a Los Angeles-based firm that has 
gained a national reputation for its remarkable success in a variety of 
high profile trials and appeals. She was joined by Katy Jacobs, a senior 
Howarth & Smith associate, and Rebecca Lorenz, local Colorado counsel. 

The trial, presided over by Federal District Court Judge Zita 
Weinshienk, involved proof that these residents were exposed to uranium, 
molybdenum, arsenic, and other heavy metals during the 60's, 70's and 
80's. Plaintiffs' witnesses testified that contaminants -- including 
radioactive materials from Cotter polluted plaintiffs' water, the 
vegetables in their gardens, and the dust in their houses -- resulted in 
illness, cancer death, and loss of property value. 

One of the plaintiffs, Jack Hadley, has birth defects, known as multiple 
exostoses, bony growths on the body which experts for plaintiffs 
testified were a result of his mother's exposure to molybdenum from the 
Cotter mill during her pregnancy. 

The area was declared a Superfund site in 1984 by the federal government 
and was placed on the National Priorities List as one of the most 
contaminated places in the nation. 

The mill was closed in 1988. Before and during the trial, the Cotter 
Corp. had sought permission from regulatory agencies to reopen the mill, 
and plans to do so in the near future. 

``This verdict reflects the obvious facts -- which Cotter has denied for 
decades -- that the properties of these people were contaminated and 
that these people were hurt,'' said Smith. ``It confirms by a unanimous 
jury, beyond a reasonable doubt under Colorado law, that Cotter ignored 
the rights and safety of the public for its own financial benefit.'' 

This is the first of four groups of plaintiffs -- a total of 67 people 
in all -- in the Lincoln Park area represented by Howarth & Smith. The 
court had ordered that this group of 14 plaintiffs proceed to trial 
first as representative of the injuries suffered by all plaintiffs. The 
remaining trial or trials are expected to be set by the court; in the 
interim the court has encouraged both sides to attempt to resolve all 
the cases based on this first result. 

Howarth & Smith has gained a national reputation for its extraordinary 
success in a variety of high profile trials and appeals. This boutique 
law firm, which represents plaintiffs and defendants, is the only firm 
in the country ever to have been selected by the National Law Journal 
for both ``Top 10'' plaintiffs' and defense verdicts in the same year. 
Howarth & Smith specializes in complex civil actions, including business 
and commercial matters, antitrust cases, class actions, toxic torts and 
catastrophic personal injury cases.