NEW YORK - A federal judge agreed to allow more than 1,000 property owners in St. Petersburg, Fla., to sue Raytheon Co., the world’s largest missile maker, as a group over claims it caused pollution that lowered their property values.
The residents accuse Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon of polluting the soil and groundwater around its St. Petersburg facility. The class-action certification means the owners don’t have to sue individually, making it easier and cheaper for them to pursue the litigation.
“The unique facts of this mass tort case make certification appropriate at this juncture,’’ US District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington in Tampa, Fla., wrote after a three-day hearing.
In March 2008, the owners’ lawyers said the case was worth $400 million. They later dropped parts of the case, including a request that Raytheon be made to pay for medical monitoring of residents. The suit was originally filed in Florida state court in April 2008. Raytheon moved it to federal court the next month.
The case concerns about 1,300 residential and commercial properties in St. Petersburg, said Brian Barr, a lawyer for the owners at Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Echsner & Proctor PA in Pensacola, Fla. Barr said he didn’t know the amount of the potential damages. They are “significantly less’’ than the original $400 million estimate, he said.
Barr said the case would have ended if Covington didn’t certify the class because it would have been too expensive for the owners to pursue.
Yesterday’s decision is “the first step in a four-step judicial process’’ ending with a trial, Jon Kasale, a spokesman for Raytheon, said in an e-mailed statement.
“The plaintiffs have abandoned their claims of health risk, vapor intrusion, and medical monitoring, leaving alleged diminution of property value as the remaining basis for their suit. Meanwhile, Raytheon remains focused on remediation,’’ working with state officials.
The property owners argued they should be allowed to sue as a group because their claims arise from Raytheon’s release of toxic waste and are based on the same legal theories.
