Judge drops 'cancer fear' lawsuit against Fallon

RENO - The city of Fallon was dismissed from a lawsuit Friday that alleged it was responsible for exposing children to environmental carcinogens.

U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan said the said the law doesn't allow a person to sue for a "cancer fear" and the child who was the subject of the case doesn't have leukemia.

The judge dismissed all of the defendants from the lawsuit filed by Alan Levin, an Incline Village attorney, which included the United States, ExxonMobil Corp., Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Berry-Hinckley Industries.

City of Fallon Attorney Don Lattin said the case is significant because the judge ruled it cannot be filed again in court.

"We're just happy the city doesn't have to incur any additional attorney fees and costs on a case we view as frivolous," Lattin said.

City Clerk Gary Cordes said since July 2002 the city has spent $213,735 on attorney fees connected to the leukemia lawsuits.

In the Fallon cancer cluster, 16 children have been diagnosed since 1997 and three have died. The last child added to the cluster was diagnosed in 2002.

Frankie Sue Galaz vs. the city of Fallon et al, was one of nine leukemia-related lawsuits naming the city as a defendant. It was filed in November 2003. Galaz is the mother of Eugenio Galaz, born in September 2000. Although the 3-year-old Fallon boy does not have cancer, Levin argued the law allows for a plaintiff to sue for the "fear of cancer."

Levin called the judge's decision a "railroad job." He also argued the judge misinterpreted the law. Levin said he'll soon file another lawsuit concerning a Fallon resident with a bone marrow tumor.

"The city is floating on carcinogens and the judge is dealing with procedure," Levin said outside the courtroom in the U.S. District Court in Reno.

The Galaz lawsuit alleged the defendants were responsible for polluting the Fallon environment with benzene and other carcinogens, which has caused the childhood leukemia cluster. The class-action lawsuit - it also includes 10 anonymous families - sought to require the defendants to fund a cancer monitoring program for Churchill County children.

Levin contended the defendants were negligent, created a nuisance to the public and then concealed dangers and risks of the jet fuel pipeline running under Fallon. JP-8 jet fuel contains several chemical components, including a small percentage of benzene, which scientists have linked to cancer.

The pipeline travels from Sparks through Fallon to Naval Air Station Fallon and delivers more than 30 million gallons of jet fuel to the base annually.

"There isn't an injury here and I'm glad there isn't and I hope there never is ... there is no case here," Mahan said.

Contact Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@lahontanvalleynews.com