A U.S. District Court magistrate judge in Ohio issued an order last week coordinating pre-trial discovery in four federal lawsuits against present and former contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site.
Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers issued the stipulation and order Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
“Overlapping discovery” is justified because the suit filed by Ursula and Jason McGlone, along with the cases filed by Brad Allen Lykins, Christian Rose and Joshua Shaw are all related, the judge said.
More cases are on the way, Deavers said.
“The court and defendants understand that counsel for the plaintiffs may file additional cases, alleging claims for personal injury,” the magistrate judge said. The same attorneys are involved in the cases, according to the judge’s ruling.
“The parties agree that entries in these matters of an order regarding overlapping discovery will not delay the progress of these actions, that such an order is in the interest of justice and judicial economy and to avoid unnecessary cost and delay, and will help prevent duplicative work,” according to the order.
All the lawsuits filed since 2019 are brought by plaintiffs living near the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio.
The lawsuits target Portsmouth contractors, alleging the businesses failed to contain radioactive contamination inside the DOE fence. Plaintiffs blame the contractors for off-site contamination and contributing to serious illnesses, and in one case death from cancer.
The defendant contractors named in the suits all deny the allegations. The contractors have argued their work was safe and complied with federal regulations. In some cases, the defendants contend the cases were filed too late.
The named contractors are: Bechtel Jacobs; BWXT Conversion Services; Centrus Energy, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth; Lata/Parallax Portsmouth; Mid-America Conversion Services; United States Enrichment Corp. and Uranium Disposition.
The Lykins case was brought by a father who blames contamination from contractors work at the site for the cancer death of his 13-year-old son.
Rose, now an adult, attended Zahn’s Corner Middle School, which was permanently closed in 2019 after traces of uranium were detected inside the building. Plaintiff Shaw’s leukemia is now in remission, but he points to high cancer rates in counties surrounding the Portsmouth DOE site.
