Bullseye Glass Co. Class Action

Meeker et al v. BULLSEYE GLASS

Case No. 16CV07002

Multnomah County Circuit Court, State of Oregon

Case Overview

On March 3, 2016, the Law Office of Karl G. Anuta, P.C. and Keller Rohrback L.L.P. filed a class action lawsuit against Bullseye Glass Co. due to the alleged emissions of arsenic, cadmium, and other potentially toxic metals from that glass making facility.

The lawsuit alleges that “[o]ver the past several decades, Bullseye has emitted sufficient amounts of toxic heavy metals to make Southeast Portland a 'hotspot' of these pollutants” and that “Bullseye knew or should have known that it . . . has been emitting significant amounts of toxic materials.”

Background Information

In February 2016, Oregon state regulators first disclosed that the air in part of Southeast Portland had tested positive for extremely high levels of arsenic and cadmium (chemicals that Bullseye happened to use to manufacture colored glass). According to the Oregon Health Authority, persistent exposure to high concentrations of arsenic can cause skin, lung, or bladder cancer, and the health effects of cadmium exposure include lung cancer and kidney damage. Additional information on those issues and the Bullseye Glass air monitoring readings are available from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the Oregon Health Authority, and Cleaner Air Oregon.

Key Case Events

On December 13, 2017, over strong opposition by Bullseye, the Court granted a Motion to Amend to allow the plaintiffs to add a claim for punitive damages into the case, in light of evidence from which a jury could conclude that Bullseye displayed a wilful disregard for the risks to the residents of the neighborhood.

On February 2, 2018, the Presiding Judge in Multnomah County (Stephen Bushong) granted the Motion for Class Certification, certifying two sub-classes of owners and residents of residential property. The Court also appointed the named plaintiffs and Karl G. Anuta as one of the attorneys to represent those sub-classes.

The sub-classes defined are:

1. "All residents of the residential properties within the Bullseye Plume depicted in Figure 1 of the report of Dr. Andrew Gray as of February 3, 2016..." (seen below); and

2. "All owners of the residential real properties within the Bullseye Plume depicted in Figure 1 of the report of Dr. Andrew Gray as of February 3, 2016..." (seen below).

The class area was defined using Air Dispersion Modeling of Bullseye’s historic particulate emissions. With the Court granting the Motion, the case was set to proceed towards Trial against Bullseye on behalf of the subclasses. The Trial is currently set to start on June 11, 2018.

On January 23, 2019, the parties proposed, and the court issued preliminary Approval of, a $6.5 Million Settlement in the case. The Settlement Agreement ensures that all Bullseye's furnaces have now been (and will remain) fully connected to pollution control equipment. That stops any further heavy metal pollution from Bullseye. The agreement also sets up a $1 Million air monitoring project in the Class area, the results of which will be fully public. The settlement also provide funds for reimbursement of certain expenses incurred by Class members, and it provides for distribution of the funds remaining after expenses and fees to all the Class members.

The Court ultimately approved a final Settlement and the funds have now been distributed. The air monitoring program is currently underway.

If you would like more information on the specific terms of the Settlement you can go to: https://www.bullseyeclassaction.com/.