Judge tosses Beverly Hills cancer claims

AP via Yahoo ^ | November 23, 2006 | AP Wire

[CutePuppy]

LOS ANGELES - A judge has thrown out 12 lawsuits claiming an oil well that operated for decades at Beverly Hills High School caused cancer in former students.

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Superior Court Judge Wendell Mortimer Jr. rejected the suits Wednesday.

The case began in 2003 when the law firm that employs celebrity legal crusader Erin Brockovich located hundreds of people who believed emissions from the well were responsible for their cancers or other illnesses.

The city and the Beverly Hills Unified School District spent more than $1 million to determine the area was safe.

The well produces about 500 barrels of oil and 300,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day, said Michael G. Edwards, a vice president of owner Venoco Inc.

Allen Stewart, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said they would appeal.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

[CutePuppy]

A loss for "celebrity legal crusader Erin Brockovich"

[umgud]

Isn't she that actress who played Lady in Red?

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

These "plaintiffs" should be sued for the million bucks and all costs associated with this frivilous suit!

That's not a million bucks in monopoly money. That's a million bucks that hundreds of thousands of people spend hundreds of thousands of hours chained to a desk to pay when they could have bought their family an extra car or whatever.

[Mobile Vulgus]

Just more "let's bleed all corporations" nonsense.

[CutePuppy]

Julia Roberts (of "Pretty Woman" fame, and sister of Eric Roberts) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000210/ , http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000210/bio played Erin Brockovich in eponymous movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/

Real Erin Brockovich is not an actress but plays one on TV:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004777/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004777/bio

[Cementjungle]

A friend's son is one of these cases. He came down with Hodgekins around 5 years ago, when he was about 26. His brother also attented Beverly Hills High, but wasn't into sports. Most of the cancer cluster cases were the kids who spent time on the fields where the well was.

Our friend's son is in complete remission now, but it was a scary experience. This was definately a cluster there.

[Lancey Howard]

Har! As soon as I saw the thread title I figured this was another shot at "jackpot justice" by that pig Brockovitch. Surprise, surprise.

[yevgenie]

I remember commenting when the case was first announced in 2003. IIRC, the correlation for the cancers was with Epstein Barr virus--the cause of mono. Not so uncommon in that highschool, I'd venture to guess.