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Settlement reached in TCE water suit

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South Side residents affected by contaminated water wells more than 25 years ago will receive $49.5 million in a settlement with an insurance company that once covered the city and Tucson Airport Authority.

The residents met Saturday with attorneys Fred Baron and Richard Gonzales, who outlined the proposed settlement with Associated Aviation Underwriters during three different private sessions at Sunnyside High School. A fourth session is scheduled today for the remaining plaintiffs.

Baron, of the Dallas-based firm Baron & Budd, declined to release details of the settlement, citing attorney-client privilege.

However, several of the more than 1,600 plaintiffs confirmed the total. In agreeing to the settlement's terms, the plaintiffs said they had to sign a confidentiality waiver.

The suit against Associated Aviation Underwriters was brought by South Side residents who claimed their water supply had been contaminated by trichloroethylene, or TCE, an industrial cleaning chemical used to remove grease from airplanes. TCE was found in South Side wells in 1981.

With the discovery, a number of suits were filed. Notably, one against Hughes Aircraft Co. was settled for $85 million in 1991. The city and Airport Authority also settled, agreeing that the money would be collected from insurance agencies that covered the authority from 1948 through the mid '80s.

Associated Aviation Underwriters insured the city and the Airport Authority from 1960 until 1972, and was the last of the agencies to reach an agreement, Baron said.

The settlement ends more than 15 years of litigation and appeals with the agency. Baron and Gonzales, a local attorney, have been representing the South Side residents the entire time.

"This is it," Baron said.

After each session broke, the plaintiffs went to the school's gym, where they individually met with attorneys to discuss their specific settlements. The settlements were divided into four categories depending on the severity of illness each plaintiff claimed. Because of the confidentiality waiver, the plaintiffs could not provide details of their awards.

They could, however, talk about the experience of prolonged litigation.

"I had no idea what to expect," said Mark Albrecht after he agreed to his settlement. "It's just been so long."

While he has not suffered from health problems, Albrecht said a number of people in his ex-wife's family have.

For plaintiff Rose Augustine, the legacy of health problems the plaintiffs associate with the TCE contamination is something that cannot be forgotten.

"I feel relief that it's over and done with," she said in a telephone interview. "But my biggest concern is that this whole thing will be forgotten."

Augustine talked about the personal toll the contamination has taken. She said her brother is struggling with cancer, her husband is in remission and she has had her own problems. She also had a granddaughter who was stillborn.

Asked if she thought the settlement was worth the suffering, she answered with a flat no.

"I would rather have not been there today," she said, referring to the meetings at Sunnyside High School. "I would rather this had never happened."