Grace Co. Guilty, Beatrice Cleared of Polluting Wells
A federal jury decided today that W. R. Grace Co. was responsible for hazardous waste contamination of two drinking wells in Woburn, where six people have died of leukemia. The jury cleared Beatrice Food Co. of liability.
Both companies had been accused of causing the contamination, which eight families in the industrialized suburb said caused sickness and death.
The verdict was the first of three to be rendered in the case. Now that responsibility for the contamination has been placed, a second proceeding will be held to decide if the contamination caused the leukemia. After that, a third trial could be held to assess damages.
The case has been perceived as a precedent setter for hundreds of similar cases nationwide involving allegations that industries discharge wastes that cause illness and death.
The jurors had deliberated for seven days before recessing for the weekend.
45 Witnesses
W. R. Grace, based in New York, and Chicago-based Beatrice went on trial March 10. The jury saw about 450 charts, graphs and other exhibits and heard 45 witnesses, including plant employees, geologists and hydrologists--experts who study the movement of water both above ground and underground.
The defendant companies contended that the discolored and malodorous Aberjona River, not their plants, was the most likely cause of the well contamination.
They said the river, which meanders through the city of 36,000 about 12 miles north of Boston, has been polluted by industries ranging from pig farms to chemical plants for over a century.
Grace admitted depositing chemicals in lagoons on its Woburn site, but in smaller amounts than plaintiffs alleged, and presented experts who said tightly packed earth left by glaciers kept the chemicals from flowing to the wells.
Beatrice, which owned the John J. Riley Co. tannery southwest of the wells from 1978 to 1983, admitted that chemicals are now present on a 15-acre empty lot next to the plant but said they were not there during the 1960s and 1970s.
