Posted on Wed, Feb. 13, 2008
Families of children who attended a center that was tainted by mercury are seeking medical monitoring.
By Jan Hefler
Inquirer Staff Writer
The families of children who attended a mercury-tainted day-care center in Franklinville may pursue their claims in a class-action lawsuit, under a ruling by Superior Court Judge James Rafferty.
The lawsuit seeks medical monitoring to determine whether the children might need treatment following their exposure at the now-closed Kiddie Kollege, located in a building that once housed a mercury-thermometer factory.
“Mercury goes dormant in the body and can show up six months to six years later,” said Tina Toy, whose 2-year-old daughter attended the day-care in Franklin Township. “The parents have always wanted medical monitoring, not money.”
Several parents also have filed lawsuits seeking monetary damages.
An estimated 100 children – some as young as 8 months – attended Kiddie Kollege before it was shut down in July 2006. Initial tests in the building found mercury vapors about 27 times acceptable limits. A new report shows the level to have been much higher.
The state Department of Environmental Protection first found the building to be contaminated in 1995, when it housed Accutherm Inc., the thermometer factory. The DEP ordered the property cleaned up, but Accutherm declared bankruptcy a month later and abandoned it.
Franklinville real estate broker Jim Sullivan III later acquired the building in a tax foreclosure and rented it to the day-care operators. Sullivan has said that he thought the cleanup had taken place.
State Health Department workers took urine samples from the children at the facility, at Delsea Drive and Station Avenue, and found that the mercury had been excreted. Parents were told that their sons and daughters should not suffer short- or long-term effects, though many remained unconvinced.
“There is a lot of study on whether mercury has an impact on child development,” said Joseph A. Osefchen, an associate of Philip S. Fuoco, who initially filed the lawsuit.
Another class-action lawsuit seeks medical monitoring for Kiddie Kollege employees as well as families of children in the day-care, who believe they could have become contaminated by beads of mercury carried home in blankets.
The suits, which are being combined, ask the judge to order medical-monitoring costs to be paid by Philip Giuliani, who owned Accutherm Inc.; Jim Sullivan Inc.; Gloucester County; Franklin Township; the DEP; and others.
Joel Korin who represents Jim Sullivan Inc., said: “We don’t think there’s any need for additional monitoring. . . . Our position is that the kids are all back to normal levels.”
Attorneys for the other named agencies could not be reached. They were included in the lawsuit because the plaintiffs allege they were aware of the contamination and failed to enforce a cleanup.