$25,000 to $300,000 Apiece : 500 Will Share $43 Million in BKK Landfill Suit Settlement

More than 500 people who lived near the BKK landfill when it was taking toxic waste will share in a $43-million settlement, lawyers disclosed for the first time Wednesday.

Settlement of the lawsuit against BKK Corp. was reached in 1986, but the amounts being paid were not revealed until documents were unsealed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

It has long been known, however, that the amount would be about $40 million, because residents had said that is what they had been told.

Collection Snags

The documents show that BKK Corp. is paying $7 million to the residents and the remainder of the settlement is coming from insurance companies and W & A Builders, which constructed homes near the dump.

Herbert Hafif, attorney for 508 residents, said about $20 million remains to be collected from three insurance companies that have refused to pay on policies held by BKK.

Hafif said the 1986 settlement called for BKK Corp. to pay $7 million out of future revenues to the residents and turn over insurance policies for the remainder of the settlement. Hafif said eight insurance carriers immediately paid amounts ranging from $1 million to $5 million.

But, he said, four other insurance companies refused to pay. One of them, Transcontinental Insurance Co., agreed this week to pay $9 million to the residents and $1.5 million to BKK Corp. for its claims.

Hafif said that the settlement with Transcontinental Insurance Co. brings the total collected so far to about $25 million, including $3.2 million from W & A Builders. He said that if the entire $43 million is collected, families will wind up with amounts ranging from $25,000 to $300,000, minus attorney fees. The amounts depend on whether residents owned or rented homes and how long they lived near the dump.

Hafif said he believes this settlement is the largest ever in a toxic waste case in the United States. “I don’t know of anything higher than $20 million,” he said.

BKK Landfill was closed to toxic waste in 1984 after the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency discovered a number of environmental problems, including landfill gas seeping out of the dump. BKK has closed its hazardous waste area but is continuing to take ordinary commercial and household trash.