Attorneys acting on behalf of affected residents of south Fulton and Fayette counties over illnesses said to originate from the Philip Services Corp. (PSC) plant near Fairburn are gearing up for a fight.

Commenting Monday on the case, Atlanta attorney Scott Zahler said his firm, Goetz, Allen & Zahler, is approaching the class action case from a variety of perspectives. Current defendants in the case are PSC and American Vanguard Corporation (AMVAC).

“We consider this a very big case and we’re spending a lot of time and effort on it and will be spending a significant amount of money litigating this case. We have 10 lawyers working on this case every day. It is our top priority and we’re going full-steam ahead,” Zahler said. “We have retained experts to deal with issues such as the environmental impact of the exposure, toxicology, the impact on real property and home values and standard of care experts to address PSC’s acts of negligence at their plant, in their failure to document and generally handle, transport and manage these dangerous chemicals.”

Aside from attorneys in his firm, Zahler said the litigation team also includes environmental attorneys Stack & Associates and class action trial attorneys Devlin & Robinson.

Current agreements prohibit Zahler from contacting or being in contact with many of the area residents that have sought more information on the class action lawsuit. Zahler said he anticipated those restrictions to be worked out in the near future.

“It has been frustrating for us not to be able to communicate information about the case when we are contacted or to disseminate information to folks who we’ve talked to in the past,” Zahler said. “We have been receiving calls and e-mails from individuals but have not been been able to provide much information at this time.”

Zahler said the issue of communication should be resolved shortly, either by both sides or by a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

“At this time the defendants’ lawyers want to limit communications with potential class members and we want to be able to let people know factually what is going on with the case,” he said.

Timelines for the case show the fact finding or discovery phase to be concluded by Jan. 31, 2007. The first of the two-part discovery phase, class discovery will define the proposed class, the number of members and the common claims and damages. The class certification for the lawsuit is expected to be filed on or before March 31, 2007, Zahler said. If certified, anyone who qualifies may opt in as a member, he said. A merits discovery phase will follow the class discovery.

Zahler said for the purposes of the case it is important for affected residents to keep a diary or journal of their symptoms and medical problems and to continue to receive any needed medical help.

To date, more than 750 residents of north Fayette and south Fulton have completed forms relating to their possible exposure to chemical emissions from the PSC plant.

PSC Vice President for Environmental Affairs Morris Azose during a July 19 public meeting initially stated the company’s willingness to help with medical expenses incurred by affected residents. The company’s hotline number was subsequently removed after the lawsuit papers were filed.

Many area residents noticed the now-familiar onion smell during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Others said they noticed the smell during the first few weeks of June. Numerous Fayette and Fulton residents began getting sick during the same period.

For many, the symptoms were consistent with those listed on material safety data sheets for the chemical odorant propyl mercaptan and organophosphate pesticide MOCAP. Complaints of the odor that began Memorial Day continued into September.

Many continue to report the same symptoms and illnesses today, according to the South Fulton/Fayette Community Task Force.

Azose said July 19 the Ga. Highway 92 plant received 38 acceptable shipments of MOCAP water wash containing propyl mercaptan between June 20-28. Four shipments arriving at the plant June 29 but rejected as being unacceptable triggered numerous complaints by area residents.

Tests on the rejected shipments conducted recently by Georgia Environmental Protection Division showed extremely high concentrations of MOCAP and propyl mercaptan in the samples.

The shipments originated at the Bayer CropScience plant in Axis, Ala., and were shipped to the AMVAC plant, also in Axis, and on to PSC in Fairburn, according to bills of lading obtained by The Citizen.

To date, there has been no explanation by PSC or EPD as to why residents were detecting the same onion odor in their yards and homes three weeks prior to the first reported shipments arriving at the plant.

There is no explanation why PSC reported 38 shipments of MOCAP water wash to EPD but reported only three shipments to Fulton County, issuer of the plant’s pre-treatment permit, according to documents obtained by The Citizen.

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