Appeals Court Dismisses Part of Suit Against Beatrice

BOSTON — A federal appeals court Wednesday dismissed claims that chemicals from property owned by the giant Beatrice Foods Co. contaminated wells in a Boston suburb and caused a rash of leukemia deaths.

But the court ordered a new hearing on alleged pollution from a Beatrice tannery because of “misconduct” by the company and its lawyers in failing to supply evidence sought in the trial of a lawsuit filed by the victims’ families.

A lawyer for the families hailed the ruling, saying the order to investigate the conduct of a company as big as Beatrice and its highly regarded Boston law firm, Hale & Dorr, has nationwide significance.

But a lawyer for Beatrice said he is confident that the company and the law firm will be vindicated in its handling of the case.

The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court ruling that cleared Beatrice of responsibility for alleged toxic-waste pollution from 15 acres of property located near drinking-water supplies in Woburn.

But the panel ordered a lower court to determine whether Beatrice was guilty of dereliction of duty by withholding a 1983 hydrogeologic report that may have confirmed ground-water contamination from the nearby tannery.

U.S. District Judge Walter Jay Skinner was ordered to determine whether the families are entitled to any remedy, including the possibility of a new trial on the tannery issue.

Lawyers for both sides said they are pleased by the unanimous 54-page ruling.

“The whole case we tried was the question involving the 15 acres, and whether pollutants from the 15 acres reached the wells,” said Jerome P. Facher, representing Beatrice, “ . . . and it’s clear that part of the case is over.”

Boston lawyer Jan Schlictmann, representing the Woburn families, said that “as far as liability is concerned, Beatrice’s responsibility regarding the tannery and the 15 acres are of equal importance.

“The families feel vindicated in their several years’ struggles to make Beatrice obey the rules, and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to determine the full extent of the abuse by Beatrice.”

A federal jury cleared Beatrice of all responsibility after a 78-day trial last year. The Woburn residents appealed. The families, who initially filed suit in 1982, claimed the contamination led to six leukemia deaths in the suburb northwest of Boston.

In the same trial, the jury found W.R. Grace & Co. responsible for similar contamination. Before a separate trial was held to assess damages, however, the judge said he erred in charging the jury. As an alternative to a new trial, a settlement was reached between Grace and the families, reportedly for $8 million.

The Woburn families said a new trial should be granted against Beatrice because the jury was not asked to make a finding regarding ground-water flow and the company’s alleged misconduct on the tannery issue.

The appeals court agreed with Skinner on the first question, but said “the record contains clear and convincing evidence--overwhelming evidence, to call a spade a spade--that (Beatrice) engaged in what must be called misconduct” on the tannery issue.