Victims form trust for settlement
Rather than filing their own lawsuits, more than 200 homeowners and businesses have joined a court-supervised trust empowered to negotiate a group settlement against any party found responsible for the factory explosion last November that damaged or destroyed their properties in Danversport.
The Danversport Trust includes most of the property owners who collectively suffered $20 million in damages from the Nov. 22 blast at an ink and paint factory shared by CAI Inc. of Georgetown and Arnel Co. of Danvers.
As of June 1, when Probate Court Judge John Casey approved the trust, 212 residents and business had joined. And at least 50 more people will be added to the list, the lawyer for the trust said.
"The trust has been very well received," said Jan Schlichtmann, a Beverly environmental attorney representing the trust. "People feel really good about working together."
Neither CAI nor Arnel has been found to be liable for the explosion. Each company last month gave up its license to store chemicals on the now-vacant site, after intense public pressure prompted the Board of Selectmen to consider revoking it.
State and federal investigators in May said the blast was probably caused when chemical vapors were ignited by an unknown source inside the plant. Final reports are not completed.
Unconvinced by the findings, some residents plan to have their own experts comb the site this month for possible clues to the cause. The plant did not run on natural gas, but residents wonder if it somehow may have leaked in, for example.
"Definitely, gas was not [used] in the building, but that doesn't prevent gas from getting into the structure," Schlichtmann said. "Sewer lines can be conduits of gas . . . which can get into a building and blow them up."
He said CAI has been cooperating with requests for access to the site.
"We want to understand the source of this explosion," said Ed Sanborn, 42, a founder of Safe Area for Everyone, a neighborhood group.
"We're interested in finding out where the mixing tanks came from, who manufactured the chemicals. What were the electrical conditions there?"
Based on their findings, the trust will decide which parties to approach to negotiate a settlement. It still could be several months before that is known, Schlichtmann said.
"We hope to move things along," said Schlichtmann, best known for his role in pursuing a toxic-pollution lawsuit against W.R. Grace & Co. in Woburn, portrayed in a best-selling book and Hollywood movie, "A Civil Action."
If a settlement is reached, the money would be paid into the trust. Funds would be distributed under a benefits plan that will consider the losses and needs of each property owner, and the amount of money available in the trust, according to an outline.
Rose Marie DiResta, a retired principal of Riverside Elementary School in Danversport, is the court-appointed trustee.
The trust will also accept private donations. So far, almost $7,000 including $900 raised from a basketball shoot-out at Manchester Essex Regional High, has been collected. The money will be used for the long-term improvement of Danversport, a tiny neighborhood on the Waters and Crane rivers, where some homes had boats and docks.
"Our hope is that we can rebuild the neighborhood, so that everybody who wants to come back can feel safe," said Susan Tropeano, 46, a leader of SAFE. "Before this, we really did feel we were in vacationland. We want that back."
Most of the owners of the 70 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed by the blast have reached monetary settlements with insurance companies. But more than half have yet to return to their homes, which are in various stages of being repaired or rebuilt.
With more than 200 members, including several minor children, the trust represents most of the residents of Bates, Riverside, Waters, and other streets immediately surrounding the blast site.
Litigation filed in connection with the blast has been limited to a handful of lawsuits.
A class action lawsuit was filed by a boat owner at Liberty Marina, next to the blast site on the Waters River. It is unclear how many people have signed on to the lawsuit. Attorney Michael F. Germano, a Boston lawyer who filed the suit in December, could not be reached for comment.
In January, a judge granted a request by CAI Inc. to preserve evidence. In February, lawyers for several insurance companies also filed requests to preserve evidence. CAI filed a lawsuit in April against the state Department of Fire Services, saying the company should not have to pay $312,780.94 for state hazardous-materials response teams that worked almost round-the-clock for several days following the blast.
The state attorney general's office, representing the Department of Fire Services, is still drafting its response, a spokesman said.
Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com
NorthTalk
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