The Region - News from Sept. 9, 1985

A $100-million lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of people evacuated during a chemical fire will be dropped because most of the potential plaintiffs can seek redress in Small Claims Court, a lawyer says. Instead of the class-action suit, individual suits will be filed on behalf of the Anaheim residents who were forced from their homes during a June fire at the Larry Fricker Co. pesticide plant, said Howard E. Hirsch, of Melvin M. Belli’s law firm, which filed the initial case. Hirsch said he questioned about 20 potential litigants in the class-action case and discovered most were seeking damages for simply losing a day of work or having to buy a change of clothes after being evacuated.