Singer’s Suit Against Boeing Is Dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by rocker Vince Neil against Boeing North American Inc. that claimed the alleged dumping of toxic materials from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Chatsworth led to the cancer death of his daughter.

Neil, the lead singer of heavy metal band Motley Crue, and his ex-wife, Sharise, filed the suit last year contending Boeing and its Rocketdyne division knowingly dumped hazardous materials, such as plutonium and uranium, near their former Chatsworth home, a few miles east of the field lab.

Their 4-year-old daughter, Skylar, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 1995 and died four months later.

But after Neil’s attorney, David M. Cordrey, failed to provide documents requested by the company as part of its preparations for the case, U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins this week dismissed the lawsuit.

Collins had ordered Cordrey to produce the documents and levied sanctions against him for allegedly not cooperating in the case. Neither he nor the Neils appeared in court to contest dismissal of the case.

“I don’t really know what the problem was,” said Gary M. Black, chief in-house counsel for Boeing. “They finally just exhausted the court’s patience.”