Introduction
This website is dedicated to providing information to people who own or reside at properties within the area affected by groundwater contamination in the vicinity of the Ivy Industrial Park in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania.
As a result of this groundwater contamination, a class action settlement has been proposed between property owners and residents within the affected area and Sandvik, Inc. and Bostik, Inc., which are the defendant companies that operate or once operated businesses within the park. On behalf of the class of property owners and residents, Class Counsel has asked the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania to approve the settlement agreement between these parties.On January 23, 2008, the Honorable A. Richard Caputo of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted preliminary approval of the settlement and set a hearing for August 18, 2009, to determine the request for final approval. A copy of the judge's Order Granting Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement is viewable here. The Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action, Claims Procedure, Settlement Hearing, and Right to Appear was mailed to the affected property owners on February 5, 2009. Notice will also be made by publication in this form.
Background and Summary of Proposed Settlement
The lawsuit in this case was originally filed on September 27, 2005, by Class Counsel on behalf of a named plaintiff, who is a resident living in the area affected by this contamination. The lawsuit seeks payment to be awarded to a class of individuals consisting of this named plaintiff and all other affected property owners and residents, which includes you if you own or reside at one of the properties listed in the following link:
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been facilitating the installation of a public water line as a way to provide a permanent remedy to this problem. Under DEP’s oversight, Sandvik and Bostik, working with the local water company, have developed a design of the water delivery system and are evaluating various water supply options. Any of the approximate 450 properties within the affected area can elect to be connected to the public water line at no expense to them for the connection. The defendants will be paying for the installation of this water line, the cost of connecting properties to the water line, and the cost of closing the private wells on the properties that are connected to the water line. In addition, these companies will pay all property owners that agree to the proposed class settlement an amount that can be used for any purpose, including to offset their monthly water bills, and to compensate them for any diminished value of their property before connection to the new public water line, for any nuisance they may have experienced, and for medical monitoring they may choose to undergo.
The amount each property owner will receive depends on the extent to which your well water has been affected. If your private well water on your property has been found to have levels of either TCE or PCE at or above 5 parts per billion (ppb), you will receive a payment of $16,000. If your property has had detectable levels of either TCE or PCE but never at a concentration of 5 ppb or higher, you will receive $8,000. If the well on your property has never had a detectable level of TCE or PCE, you will still receive $4,000. In addition to these amounts, each owner of such property will receive 5% of the most recent tax assessment value of the property as of May 1, 2008. Nonowner residents, such as children, at properties where PCE or TCE has been detected in the private well water will also receive $100 per resident, provided that the resident has resided at the property for at least 365 days prior to the installation of the activated carbon water treatment system.
To participate, eligible property owners and residents must send back a signed Proof of Claim and Release form postmarked on or before April 6, 2009, which verifies their agreement to be disconnected from their private well and become connected to the public water line. Property owners must also sign an Access Agreement that allows this work to be performed and a Restrictive Covenant which states that no well may be used on the property in the future to withdraw groundwater. State law requires the property owner to also sign Child Support Arrears Documents that verify whether or not the owner owes any outstanding child support payments. The Class Administrator is available via a toll-free telephone number, 866-905-8102, with live operators or by email at info@ivyparkclassaction.com to respond to questions and assist property owners with the required paperwork.
While Class Counsel certainly encourages all eligible residents to participate in the settlement and connect to the water line, if a resident chooses not to participate, he or she must return a written statement that they are opting out of the settlement postmarked on or before April 6, 2009.
If an eligible property owner neither returns the required forms to participate in the settlement nor opts out by April 6, 2009, he/she will be bound by the settlement, but will not receive settlement funds. Therefore, it is in your interest to decide whether to participate or not and to submit the required forms in either case postmarked by April 6, 2009.
The final approval of this settlement will be considered at a Fairness Hearing, which will occur before the District Court judge on August 18, 2009.
Benefits of Public Water
Switching from well to public water use would provide affected residents with a number of benefits:
Note that if you elect to participate in the settlement, you will be connected to the public water line at no cost to you and you will enjoy all of the benefits of public water. But even if you do not elect to participate in the settlement, you may still request to be connected to the public water line at no cost to you. In that case, you should contact the Class Administrator at the Ivy Park Class Action Helpline at 866-905-8102 or at info@ivyparkclassaction.com by April 6, 2009 to confirm your desire to be connected to the public water line.
Benefits of the Settlement
Benefits of agreeing to participate in the class settlement include:
For More Information
If you have any questions about this matter or would like assistance in completing the required paperwork, please call the Ivy Park Class Action Helpline at 866-905-8102 from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern, or email your inquiry to info@ivyparkclassaction.com.