Document 0J77xzJqnemEbvB2byYyMVQmm

t .7 ,V' . .V ;i'.' ' --'r ' v-y^ ?rvrr r> v;rw.t'V`l *<iTv : & a ^ ii)UTH CAROLINA'S LEADING NEWSPAPERS?^ ",'i, .tiiisWim I^ -; 'l' .nb.vf*'v : )jr^jgntra->g^''^ A-'ff - A mi,-.v ________ ________ ________________________________________________*%%' '',-'Wr. 'W.'W Omiwlllt, South Carolina, Wednesday, Wowmbtr 6^1988*^ \_______ aJ . ' ***>- " ti* <* .!n^. f&r'tr^r- S -*}*' * Schools>71a* wT-:a-rrTd3 ed more than $1 million .HI H n i r~ | SM ' - v fiiii-s-/j; " f*,AV.<> *,\ . M H ,Uf V 1 i i Vlll r?>". jk \ 3 i i By Chris Simmons ! Amelia County, Va. /rf * V' la Newtaff writer A six-month period was allowed dur An order handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Billy Wilkins means the Greenville County School District will be awarded "in excess of $1 million" in reimbursement for asbestos removal, school district attorney Daniel Speights said Tuesday.. ing which the process would be complet ed. But try June 1985, it became bogged down, after the asbestos companies con tinued to demand more information from the districts, Wilkins' order said, and the school districts sought court re- lief. " Vi 4 ** Wilkins'order enforces what Speights However, Greenville County did set called "a multimillion dollar" settlement between three asbestos companies and four school districts, including the' Greenville district. tle out of court for 527,000 in the spring of 1984 with U.S. Gypsum Co. for asbestos materials at Mauldin Elementary SdlOO}. V , -I V?.t- !"! The districts agreed to settle out of Wilkins' decision to grant the motion court on Oct. 31,1984, with National Gyp-- .is a major victory for school districts. sum Co., W.R. Grace Co. and United across the country in their fight to re States Gypsum Co., three companies that sold them ceiling materials contain coup money lost in removing asbestos,Speights said. - .. ,, ,*-^3 '& Judge Blily Wilkins; <y; 1 . . ./Mndeddo^onfer,^^!d` ,<s M decision," Speights said. In a recent suit * in U.S. District Court in Greenville, ` Spartanburg Cbunty School District 71 lost its attempt to get. National Gypsum , and United States Gypsum to reimburse it 5284,000 for removal of asbestos from ing asbestos. The other school districts "It will confirm the confidence of Involved in the settlement are Richland' school districts nationwide that might district schools. That case is on appeal. County, Montgomery County, Ala., and have been shaken by the Spartanburg 7 See Asbestos, Page 11A > t- '-i 10002449 Asbestos Continued from Pag* lA'^'' to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. ' : ` ^ Speights said the Greenville County suit is one of the firstof hundreds of ongoing school asbes tos suits to be resolved. " ' '* Attorneys for National Gypsum and W.R. Grace said Tuesday they were surprised by Wilkins' order. Barron Grier, South Carolina, counsel for W.R. Grace, said the companies probably would appeal1 the order to the 4th Circuit Court , of Appeals. Ron Goodwin, operations direc tor for the Greenville County dis trict, said Tuesday night the $3: million used to remove the asbes tos from 33 schools was diverted: from district renovation and con struction funds. The district will receive less than the full amount spent on removing assbestos as a result of the settlement, Speights said, and' the amount won't be known until; asbestos removal costs are to taled. i ,' Greenville County and other school districts removed the as-' bestos materials over the past few years, after federal agencies and- the scientific community wanted:', that low-level asbestos exposure to children in schools might be haz ardous. Asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma: a cancerous tumor of the abdominal wall, have been linked to high-level asbestos exposure. Tuesday's ruling granted a June. motion to enforce the October 1964 settlement. ' The school districts and the as bestos companies agreed to ex change information in an effort to determine which companies had. what amount of asbestos in which schools, Wilkins' order said. Evi dence presented by the school dis tricts showing the presence of a company's product would be ac cepted as correct, unless con tested by evidence presented by the asbestos companies, the order\ sakl. An agreement also was reached that the asbestos companies would, pay the districts a cents-on-tbedol- lar amount for each dollar in re-; moval costs the districts could, verify through receipts. The asbestos companies were bound by the 1964 agreement, but the school districts could withdraw and go to trial if the final agree ment was unacceptable. 10002450. A