The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday before state Superior Court Judge James E. Rafferty Jr., who also must decide whether several other parties, including state and local government agencies, should contribute to the fund. The parents contend that the agencies failed to prevent the day care from opening inside a contaminated building.
If Rafferty decides the fund is not warranted, the $1 million settlement could be donated to charity.
Medical experts disagree on whether the children are likely to develop health issues from the mercury exposure. None of the children has symptoms, and attorneys for the defendants say the fund would be a waste of money.
Franklinville real estate broker Jim Sullivan 3d, who bought the abandoned factory in a tax foreclosure and then leased it to day-care operators, has said he misinterpreted an environmental report and assumed the building had been cleaned up.
Sullivan's insurance carrier, U.S. Liability Insurance Co., agreed to pay the $1 million to settle all claims against him, his family, and his businesses, who also were involved in the purchase. The insurer also agreed to use part of that money to settle the parents' claims against the day-care operators, Becky and Stephen Baughman, who had enrolled two of their own toddlers. Becky Baughman was pregnant when the contamination was discovered.
The Baughmans had purchased the day-care business in 2006 from Julie and Matthew Lawlor, the first Kiddie Kollege operators. After Julie Lawlor was convicted of embezzlement charges in North Carolina, she and her husband did not respond to several notices to attend the depositions and trial in Gloucester County.
