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Monday, November 09, 2009
Ind. Courts - More on "Red Spot Paint may have to pay $26 million for cleanup"
Updating this ILB entry from August 6th, Dan Shaw of the Evansville Courier & Press is reporting this evening:
A lawsuit alleging that Red Spot Paint & Varnish contaminated an Evansville site is heading toward a settlement out of court.On Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana was to consider a request to order Red Spot to spend nearly $26 million in cleaning the site, which comprises seven acres west of U.S. 41 and between Columbia and Virginia streets. Red Spot instead reached an understanding with the plaintiff, a real-estate partnership named 1100 West LLC and connected with Jack Rogers Realty.
Thomas Barnard, an attorney for 1100 West, said the understanding will likely lead to a dismissal of the lawsuit. The judge overseeing the case has given the two sides 60 days to reach a final settlement.
Barnard declined to say what that settlement will entail. Emilee Hille, a representative of Red Spot, declined to comment for this article. * * *
The lawsuit against Red Spot dates to 2003. In June, a federal judge ruled that Red Spot and its lawyers had withheld evidence in the case. The upshot was a default judgment, ending Red Spot’s opportunity to argue in its own defense and making it responsible for cleaning 1100 West’s site.
Red Spot has paid for the lawsuit, in part, from money raised last year when it was sold to a subsidiary of the Japanese firm Fujikura Kasei. Of the proceeds from the sale, about $14 million was set aside for the defense of Red Spot.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 9, 2009 07:26 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts