Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008

Lawsuit filed against AVX

TCE rendered land worthless, action says

A group of Myrtle Beach residents filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against AVX Corp., claiming the electronics manufacturer contaminated their property with a toxic chemical.

That contamination has made it impossible to sell land and homes in the area and has ruined property values, according to the lawsuit.

Gene Connell, a lawyer representing the residents, said he wants AVX to pay property owners the fair-market value for each parcel.

There are hundreds of property owners within the 10-block area where contamination has occurred, which stretches from 17th Avenue South to Seventh Avenue South. Most of the contamination is just a few blocks west of Kings Highway, a major business thoroughfare.

The fair-market value for all that property could top tens of millions of dollars, according to Horry County property records.

AVX has not filed a response to the lawsuit and no court date has been set.

John Gilbertson, president and chief executive officer of AVX, and Evan Slavitt, the manufacturer's vice president for business and legal affairs, did not respond to The Sun News' requests for comment.

The lawsuit claims AVX is the source of high levels of trichloroethylene in the groundwater near homes and businesses close to the manufacturer's 17th Avenue South headquarters.

Trichloroethylene, or TCE, is a degreaser used by AVX and other manufacturers in the 1970s and '80s. Exposure to the chemical has been linked with cancer and other health problems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The TCE contamination has made property worthless, the lawsuit says, because S.C. law requires property sellers to disclose all defects and dangerous conditions to prospective buyers.

Connell said anyone with TCE contamination in their groundwater has a distressed property.

"No one is going to want to buy those homes for fear that the contamination might cause damage to their children, much less their property," Connell said.

Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate in Myrtle Beach, said toxic contamination "would have a major impact" on property values.

"Not just on the specific community, but also the surrounding communities," Maeser said.

Environmental tests earlier this year showed TCE levels in groundwater near the AVX site are as high as 19,200 parts per billion. The EPA's safe limit is five parts per billion.

The contamination levels are high enough to warrant concerns that TCE vapors could seep through soil above the groundwater and into homes and businesses, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

That agency ordered AVX to pay for a new rounds of tests, which started this month, to help determine TCE levels in the soil and air. It is not clear when those tests will be completed.

Wednesday's lawsuit focuses on TCE's impact on property values instead of health.

The lawsuit was filed by five residents of Rogers Drive, which is located near AVX's headquarters. Environmental tests near Rogers Drive showed TCE levels of 356 parts per billion.

Mary Lou Nance, one of the Rogers Drive residents who is suing AVX, said she suspected there were chemicals near her home but never followed up on those concerns until she read about the TCE contamination in the newspaper.

"There is a funny smell here at times and I always wondered if it was some kind of chemical that might be hazardous," said Nance, who has lived at Rogers Drive for 10 years.

Nance said she and her neighbors decided to file the lawsuit because of the contamination's impact on property values.

"Plus, we don't know yet if this is a health issue," she said.

Any person who owns property contaminated by TCE that came from AVX automatically will be included in the class-action lawsuit, Connell said.

In addition to seeking compensation for the fair-market value of all property, the lawsuit asks for unspecified punitive damages.

Slavitt, in e-mails earlier this month, told people who live near the AVX site that they have nothing to worry about.

"The facts indicate that the [TCE] concentrations and the locations pose no significant threat whatsoever," Slavitt wrote.

Environmental experts say there is growing evidence that TCE is a dangerous health threat.

A 2001 assessment by the EPA found the chemical to be up to 40 times more toxic than previously thought, and some members of Congress are pushing to lower TCE's safe threshold to just one part per billion.

This is the second lawsuit filed against AVX in as many months. Horry Land Co., which owns property across the street from AVX, filed a lawsuit in October claiming the manufacturer ruined its land with TCE contamination. Horry Land wants AVX to pay $5.4 million for the property.

Horry Land is not included in the lawsuit filed Wednesday because it has filed its own court case. The Horry Land suit is pending in federal court.