Judge: Zackary can intervene in Gadsden Water Works lawsuit settled last year
Etowah County Judge William Ogletree granted a motion filed by WMGJ Radio manager Fred Zackary, who sought to intervene in lawsuit settled in October that awarded money to the Gadsden Water Works and Sewer Board as a result of industrial pollution in the Coosa River.
Zackary challenged the non-disclosure of the terms of the settlement in a motion filed by retired federal judge U.W. Clemon against both the plaintiff and defendants in the case: water board Manager Chad Hare and 3M Co., Arrowstar Inc., Daltonian Flooring Inc., Dystar L.P., Fortune Contract Inc. Harcros Chemical Inc., Industrial Chemicals Inc., Mohawk Carpet LLC, Mohawk Industries Inc., S&S Mills, Savannah Mills Group, Shaw Industries Inc. and Tandus Centiva US Inc., respectively.
A hearing on the matter has been set for 10:30 a.m. Feb. 16.
Zackery's motion stated on Nov. 3, he wrote Hare seeking copies of the settlement agreements in the case that was brought in 2016, accusing carpet manufacturers in the Dalton, Georgia, area of discharging, in their industrial wastewater, perfluorinated compounds, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanoate sulfonate into the Coosa River, Gadsden’s primary water source, and the Conasauga River, a tributary.
The matter was slated for trial, but a settlement was reached by the parties on Oct. 3.
Ogletree ruled at the time that the details of the settlements were to remain confidential, and Mike Haney, attorney for the water board, cited that ruling in a Nov. 21 letter to Zackery rejecting his request for copies of the agreements.
However, Zackery in his suit contended that he and other Gadsden residents “have paid for, ingested into their bodies and otherwise used the waters provided by GWW&SB and polluted by the corporate (defendants)” and have “an abiding interest in the monetary settlements paid” to those defendants.
He questioned whether the court has “examined the settlement agreements reached in this case” or, if it has examined them, “has never made factual findings justifying the non-disclosure of the monetary terms of the settlement agreements.”
According to Zackery's motion, the agreements are not subject to any of the exemptions from open records disclosure, and that Hare in his role as water board manager is a “public officer” under Alabama's Public Records Law. That law puts puts the burden of proving an exception to the law is warranted on the person or body refusing to disclose the records.
Haney told The Times, "The water board wants to abide by the conditions set by the court. We will with comply with anything the court tells us to do."
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Quest to disclose water pollution settlement gets preliminary court win
