Lockheed Could Have Won Suit, Mediator Says

The former appellate judge who mediated the deal under which Lockheed Martin Corp. paid $60 million to more than 1,300 neighbors of its Burbank plant said Friday the aerospace giant would have won had the case gone to trial.

John K. Trotter, presiding justice of the state Court of Appeal until 1987, said neighbors lacked medical evidence to prove that illnesses such as cancer were caused by toxic contamination of the water, soil and air surrounding the facility.

“In my opinion, they could not win this in Superior Court,” Trotter said during an interview at his office in Orange. “It was a very difficult case from the plaintiffs’ perspective.”

The confidential out-of-court settlement caused a furor when it was disclosed because residents who were not part of the deal claimed that they had been unfairly left out. Last week, after bitter complaints, other neighbors sued Lockheed in federal court.

Trotter said both sides agreed to let him discuss the case in public despite a strict confidentiality clause agreed to by all participants.