Local News in Brief : Suit Over Pollution in Santa Clarita Dismissed

Ahomeowner group’s lawsuit alleging that five manufacturers polluted an area of the Santa Clarita Valley was dismissed Tuesday by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

Judge Norman R. Dowds granted a motion by the companies to dismiss the suit filed by the Woodlands-Sand Canyon Assn. because the organization failed to heed a court order to provide documents and answer questions concerning its membership, said Joel Dwork, a lawyer for the homeowners.

Directors of the association did not want to provide the information, Dwork said.

Still pending are other lawsuits alleging that a group of companies, including explosives manufacturer Space Ordnance Systems, endangered the health of residents by mishandling toxic wastes in Sand Canyon and nearby areas.

Residents in Sand Canyon and Agua Dulce have filed at least eight lawsuits against SOS, seeking more than $35 million in damages. The firm and three of its executives this year pleaded no contest to criminal charges involving the company’s waste disposal.

The company was fined $300,000 and the executives ordered to serve sentences ranging from 30 days in jail to probation.

Burl Alison, a spokeswoman for the parent company of SOS, TransTechnology Corp. of Sherman Oaks, called the dismissal of the suit “the first real breakthrough that we’ve had.”

Dwork said the 2,500 to 3,000 members of the homeowners group can file suits of their own or eventually be covered by two other pending class-action suits.