Navy Settles Lawsuit Over Toxic Waste in Paradise Hills

The Navy has agreed to pay $370,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that it used what is now a Paradise Hills neighborhood as a toxic waste dump in the 1930s, officials said Wednesday.

It actually cost $485,000 to rid portions of four neighborhood yards of deadly pollutants discovered in 1988, officials said. But the state Department of Toxic Substances Control agreed to the $370,000 settlement to avert what promised to be a lengthy and expensive trial, a spokesman said.

“We’re pleased with the $370,000,” said Rich Varenchik, a spokesman for the department, which is a branch of the California Environmental Protection Agency. “That will cover the bulk of our costs.”

According to the lawsuit, the state claimed that through the 1930s the Navy dumped lead-based paints, asbestos insulation and other materials at the site that is now the 6000 block of Edgewater Street.

In 1988, a swimming pool contractor unearthed what turned out to be toxic debris. County and state health officials were alerted and, two years later, after 780 cubic yards of contaminated soil had been removed from the front and back yards of four houses, the state paid the $485,000 bill.

A few months later, inspired in part by evidence gathered in a separate lawsuit filed by one of the affected homeowners, Gloria Price, the state filed suit against the Navy, demanding reimbursement.

Both suits were filed in San Diego federal court. Last April, U.S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam ruled that the Navy was liable--both to Price and to the state--for the hazardous waste dumped more than 55 years ago. He put off the issue of money damages pending a trial.

The state would have preferred that the Navy pick up the entire $485,000 tab, and taxpayers will have to pick up the difference, Varenchik said. But a settlement saves thousands of dollars in legal expenses, he said.

Price’s suit is still set for trial, on Sept. 29 before Gilliam, said her attorney, San Diego lawyer John Reaves. The suit asks for $900,000 in damages, claiming that the Navy is obligated to clean up toxins remaining under Price’s home and under her driveway.

“Unfortunately, the home is built directly on an uncompacted junk yard,” Reaves said Wednesday. “It has cracking problems and will ultimately need to be repaired. Of course, Gloria Price will be looking to the Navy to do that.”

David Thompson, a Justice Department lawyer based in Washington representing the Navy in Price’s case, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.