A federal suit brought by former security guards at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio along with other individuals alleging “racketeering” by contractors at the nuclear complex has been stayed for 120 days to give plaintiffs time to replace their trial lawyers.
Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Deavers in the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio granted the 120-day stay July 14, allowing Jeffrey Walburn and the other plaintiffs until about Nov. 11 to secure new legal counsel.
The U.S. District Court “is satisfied that a stay to allow Plaintiffs time to obtain new counsel is warranted,” the judge wrote in a 10-page decision, adding none of the parties have filed opposition since the stay was sought in May. “Further, given the complexity of this putative class action, the Court finds a stay of 120 days to be reasonable.”
A local Ohio attorney who also represents the plaintiffs, including former Portsmouth security guard Jeffrey Walburn, said one of the trial lawyers for the plaintiffs was facing disbarment proceedings in Florida.
The attorney in question, who agreed to drop out, later filed papers saying the Florida action brought by an unhappy former client was expected to be dismissed. A second Florida attorney also agreed to withdraw after his credentials for handling a class-action case were questioned.
The class action lawsuit was filed last September by Walburn and another longtime security employee at Portsmouth, Charles Lawson. They are among a group of 20 people pursuing class action litigation against current and former contractors.
The litigation alleges the “poisoning” of Portsmouth workers and people who live nearby in Ohio’s Pike and Scioto counties by current and former contractors at the one-time gaseous diffusion plant. The plaintiffs brought the case under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The listed defendants are U.S. Enrichment Corp., Centrus Energy, Lockheed Martin, Uranium Disposition Services, BWXT Conversion Services, Mid-America Conversion Services, Bechtel Jacobs, LATA/Parallax Portsmouth, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and Martin Marietta.
