Fullerton : 122 Families Get Checks in McColl Dump Case

One-hundred twenty-two families who filed suit over the McColl toxic waste dump have received the first round of checks from more than $8.8 million in settlements, an attorney in the case said Monday.

Checks for $4,111 were distributed Saturday to each family living near the dump in northwest Fullerton, said Encino attorney Jeffrey A. Matz, one of four attorneys representing plaintiff families.

“They were delighted to see the first money,” Matz said. “All of a sudden this becomes something other than a legal exercise.”

Since 1981, 141 families living near the abandoned dump for aviation fuel waste have claimed in numerous lawsuits against developers, builders, the City of Fullerton and others that they should have been warned about the landfill and its hazards.

To date, 19 of 21 remaining defendants have settled rather than proceed with a trial that was expected to last two years. Matz said negotiations are continuing with the last major defendant, William Lyon Co., developer of two of the three housing tracts surrounding the 1940s-era dump.

Although another defendant, Coates & Wallace Co., has filed for bankruptcy, Matz said it may be possible to recover $100,000 from the firm’s insurance policy. Coates & Wallace was the sales agent for the third housing tract, Fullerton Crest, which was built by the J.F. Shea Co. immediately south of the dump and its noxious odors.

Not all of the families were involved in all of the settlements. But attorneys have estimated that all will share in at least $4.5 million of the total.

Matz said Monday that the checks issued Saturday at a meeting in La Mirada represent his clients’ shares of more than $1.5 million in settlements released to date. Deducted from that $1.5 million were $750,000 in legal costs incurred by Matz’s firm, which took one-third of the balance in contingency fees.

Matz said it was likely that his clients’ shares of a $2.5-million settlement with the City of Fullerton and a $3.25-million settlement with J.F. Shea could be distributed within five to six weeks.

Some of the remaining settlements have been challenged by Lyon Co. attorneys.