The Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit and Bullseye Glass Co. announced they have reached a Settlement Agreement that resolves all outstanding issues between them and establishes a “Qualified Settlement Fund” to pay for air quality monitoring for the next two years, reimbursement for soil testing, soil cleanup, residential air purifiers and attorney fees.
The Settlement recognizes that Bullseye Glass Co. made substantial investments [over $2.2 million] in environmental protection control technology on company furnaces two years ago. These advanced environmental devices ensure that Bullseye far exceeds the new Cleaner Air Oregon regulations. The settlement ends the lawsuit without any proof of harm. These types of lawsuits are usually settled to avoid exorbitant legal costs and burdensome distractions of litigation for both parties.
The plaintiffs had initially sued for $1.2 billion. Plaintiff attorneys will receive $2.4 million of the total Settlement Agreement amount of $6.5 million.
The Settlement Agreement identifies $1 million for air monitoring and targets individual reimbursements for costs plaintiffs incurred for soil tests in response to toxic scare notices by public officials. At Bullseye's suggestion, plaintiffs have also agreed to include monitoring of diesel particulate—unrelated to Bullseye's operations—after testing done by Bullseye's environmental consultants revealed diesel particulate in some soils exceeded DEQ cleanup levels.
Extensive soil testing by DEQ, private individuals and Bullseye has established that there is no contamination of soils, related to Bullseye, exceeding health safety levels set by state and federal agencies. Nonetheless, Bullseye supports using the settlement of this case to provide class member property owners with the option of conducting soil testing on their properties. Such testing will resolve any remaining concerns by class members and reassure them that their properties were not contaminated.
“We are pleased that the Settlement Agreement ends a challenging chapter in our small company's decades of compliance with Oregon's environmental values and regulations. Oregonians are never well-served by government scare tactics, discriminatory standards or inflammatory statements that help create a cottage industry of environmental lawsuits. We look forward to a future when regulations are based on real science and clear standards, and responsible companies are acknowledged and credited for doing the right thing,” said Jim Jones of Bullseye.
“Now we can get back to doing what we are known for: being the world's best artisan glass manufacturing company, proudly started and proudly operating in Oregon,” added Jones.
