Escondido

A civil lawsuit filed in Vista Superior Court blames the so-called Chatham Bros. toxic-waste site in Escondido for the death of an Escondido man who lived about two blocks from the chemical dump.

The wrongful-death lawsuit was filed by Aino McDonald, who claimed in court documents that her husband, Donald P. McDonald, died in February, 1987, because brothers Thomas and Robert Chatham “caused (the) accumulation of toxic waste . . . with no or inadequate protection” to her husband from exposure to the chemicals.

Also named as co-defendants were the San Diego County and California, whose respective health departments have declared the property in the 2200 block of Bernardo Avenue as a toxic-waste site.

The Chathams operated a solvent-recycling business at the site from the late 1940s until 1981, when county health officials found discarded chemicals, including cancer-causing PCBs, on the property. Surface contaminants have since been removed, and state officials are preparing a more elaborate cleanup of the site, which likely will include massive earth removal.

McDonald, who lived in the 1300 block of Hamilton Lane, died of liver failure at the age of 65, according to a county death certificate.

County and state health officials have claimed that the site posed no danger to neighbors in the immediate area but nonetheless fenced off the property.

The suit seeks unspecified compensation.

Court records indicate that she is acting without an attorney, and there is no record that the defendants have yet been served with notice of the suit.