[CPEO-MEF] Fallon parents file suit claiming pollution caused leukemia cases

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Nevada
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Fallon parents file suit claiming pollution caused leukemia cases
Frank X. Mullen Jr.
6/2/2003

The parents of a boy who died of leukemia filed a lawsuit in Reno
against the city of Fallon, a jet fuel pipeline company, a metals firm
and others, alleging that pollution caused the Fallon leukemia cluster
and public officials concealed the contamination.

The complaint, filed late Friday in Washoe County District Court, is the
first wrongful death suit related to the leukemia cluster that has
sickened 16 children and killed three since 1997.

A two-year federal investigation, which concluded in February, failed to
find a cause of the epidemic, but the lawsuit alleges that environmental
contamination, including jet fuel and tungsten pollution, sparked the
outbreak.

Richard and Pilar Jernee, the parents of Adam Jernee, 10, who died of
leukemia in 2001, brought the civil action. The complaint asks for
damages in excess of $10,000 for wrongful death, negligence, fraud, and
assault. It also asks for punitive damages in excess of $10,000.

The “in excess of $10,000” is prescribed by Nevada statute.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/06/02/43697.php

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