A federal magistrate judge has set a status conference Dec. 8 to discuss discovery issues in a lawsuit brought by Southern Ohio residents against current and former contractors at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers set the conference to discuss issues in the lawsuit brought in May 2019 by Ursula McGlone and other plaintiffs who assert current and former contractors failed to prevent radioactive contamination from spreading beyond the fence of the Portsmouth Site.
Deavers will hear preliminary motions in the suits for U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley. In filings last week, Deavers has called for a schedule in which the plaintiffs must certify members of their proposed class-action lawsuit by May 28. Online filings indicate a settlement conference could occur in September 2021 although extensive document discovery will be needed before then, according to the court filings.
The McGlone lawsuit is separate from another suit filed in September under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by a different set of plaintiffs, including some former Portsmouth employees. The defendants in the September racketeering lawsuit have yet to file their response to the complaint, according to online records.
In January, the judge combined the McGlone case with another potential class-action lawsuit also filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio that basically involved the same set of allegations, blaming the DOE contractors for allowing radioactive contamination to escape the site and, among other things, reach the Zahn’s Corner Middle School.
The school building has been closed since May 2019 after a university analysis found some contamination at the property. The Energy Department said its prior and subsequent air and soil sampling around the school indicated any trace amounts of contamination there were far too minimal to pose a health hazard.
While contractors such as Centrus Energy and Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth are named in the suit, the Department of Energy is not cited as a defendant.
