Lawsuits filed in Philadelphia by 273 workers and neighbors of a PCB- contaminated rail yard in Paoli should be tried in Chester County, where the polluted yard is located and the courts are less backlogged, a state panel of judges has ruled.
Lawyers for the rail workers and residents said yesterday that they wanted the cases heard in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and intended to appeal the Jan. 11 Commonwealth Court ruling to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They have until Feb. 11 to do so.
One of those lawyers, Arnold Cohen, said that the cases involve "issues that are more urban-oriented than rural-oriented" and that he expected a Philadelphia jury to be "more like" his working-class clients.
Attorney Michael H. Malin, who represents a defendant in the case, Monsanto Co., said yesterday that he had asked for the transfer to Chester County to get the cases heard more quickly and because the lion's share of plaintiffs reside there.
The lawsuits contend that toxic PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, caused illnesses and deaths among rail-yard workers and neighbors, and that individuals' emotions and surrounding property values have suffered since the contamination of the 10-acre maintenance facility near SEPTA's Paoli train station became widely known in 1985.
Most of the suits were filed in 1988 against rail companies that have owned or operated the Paoli facility over the years, including SEPTA, the current operator, and against companies that made the liquid PCBs, long-used as transformer coolants, that were dumped or spilled over much of the Paoli yard.
The Commonwealth Court opinion, written by Judge Dan Pellegrini, upheld a May 16 order by Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Victor DiNubile, who ruled that the "compelling reason for the transfer (to Chester County) is the present condition of the Philadelphia court system. It is extremely overburdened."
Pellegrini's opinion says Chester County's civil trial list has about 170 pending cases while Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas has a list totaling more than 45,000 - a docket "so seriously overcrowded that the public interest weighed heavily in favor of transfer."
It continues: "The alleged exposure to PCBs occurred at the Paoli yard in Chester County, the alleged liable acts of defendants took place there, and a majority of the plaintiffs live there."
Pellegrini wrote on behalf of himself and two other judges, Madaline Palladino and Emil E. Warick, who heard the appeal of DiNubile's order.
Chester County President Judge Leonard Sugerman said yesterday that the cases had already been assigned to Judge Robert Shenkin but that no trial dates were set.
