45 take settlement from IBM: $2.2M paid out for vapor claims

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45 take settlement from IBM: $2.2M paid out for vapor claims

By CostBenefit on Mar 2, 2005 | In Air, Contaminated Properties, Legal, Fines, Upstate, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Perc, TCE, Contamination Cost | Send feedback »

Link: http://www.pressconnects.com/today/news/stories/ne030205s151613.shtml

More than 245 of 490 eligible property owners have accepted a cash offer from IBM Corp. as compensation for pollution affecting land south of the circuitboard manufacturing plant on North Street, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

To date, the company has paid approximately $2.2 million to property owners who accepted the terms of the deal, negotiated through the attorney general's office last fall.

"We are still working with people," IBM spokesman Todd Martin said. The deadline for accepting the deal was in November, but the company is still finalizing details with some of the recipients.

Martin offered the information for the first time Tuesday.

People who accepted the offer are receiving a one-time benefit of $10,000 or 8 percent of the property's value -- whichever is more -- in return for an agreement not to sue the company for property damages. They can still pursue claims related to health.

Rose Sotak, executor of her deceased parents' estate on Tracy Street, is one of the people who accepted the deal.

"It could be a long process if it goes to court," said Sotak, a Town of Union councilwoman and Endwell resident. The $10,000 is cash in hand, she said, and will offset the possibility of selling the property at a loss.

Several others who accepted the offer declined to discuss it Tuesday.

The number of people who accepted the deal did not significantly diminish a pool of about 600 clients who claim the pollution has degraded their property or hurt their health, said Stephen Schwarz,an attorney with Faraci & Lang, a Rochester firm.

His firm is pooling resources with Levene Gouldin & Thompson of Vestal, and other firms to pursue claims against IBM. Between 50 and 60 of the people who accepted the offer were represented by one of the law firms, according to letters from the firms that clients received this week.

Advocates say the number of people who didn't accept reflects the belief by many that the offer falls short of fair compensation for the ill effects of underground solvents that have formed gases tainting the ground and entering some buildings through a process called vapor intrusion.

IBM has installed systems to divert gases from more than 430 buildings and is monitoring the air in others.

Betty Havel, a village trustee and member of Citizens Acting to Restore Endicott, has a ventilation system on her home on Arthur Avenue. She declined the IBM offer and is pursuing compensation through the attorneys.

"I don't want this stuff in my house. I don't want it under my house," she said. "This whole thing is a huge problem and a serious safety concern. I think the people who are holding out are holding out because the problem is not getting any better. It is getting more complicated."

People who accepted the deal include the elderly, who don't have time to see the resolution of a lawsuit that could take years, Havel said. Or they may be leaving the area. Some are absentee landlords, and some own commercial property or empty lots, she added.

The village accepted $50,000 from IBM under the terms of the deal for compensation for pollution of five empty lots.

The pollution has not significantly affected property values in the area, said Sotak, a real estate agent. "There is concern about it, there is no doubt about that. We are watching it very carefully," she said

To date, no action has been filed in court against IBM related to the pollution. The two sides have been negotiating a settlement, but lawyers would not provide any updates on the case Tuesday.

Clients include many past and current residents who lived over a 300-acre plume of subterranean chemicals coming from beneath the sprawling microelectronics plant, now owned by Huron Real Estate Associates.

The chemicals include trichloroethylene, which is linked to elevated risks of illnesses ranging from cancer to skin rashes for people exposed to enough of it.

BY TOM WILBER,
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin www.pressconnects.com
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/news/stories/ne030205s151613.shtml