[CPEO-MEF] Army Depot supervisors file own asbestos lawsuit

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Texas
CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER-TIMES
Army Depot supervisors file own asbestos lawsuit
Suit is based on success of previous employee case
By Beth Cross
November 8, 2003

Current and former supervisors of 3,500 employees at the Corpus Christi
Army Depot who received $82 million in a settlement for exposure to
asbestos have filed their own lawsuit against the depot.

In the lawsuit, filed against the United States on June 30, lawyers for
the CCAD supervisors allege that asbestos is present throughout the
base, and that it was a substantial part of daily work life.

Lois Contraras, CCAD spokeswoman, said the depot's legal office is not
aware of the lawsuit, and that no letter has been received at the office
of CCAD's commander, Col. James J. Budney Jr.

Bob Hunt, public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile
Command, said the Army's legal office is also not aware of the suit.

However, Austin Tighe, an attorney representing the CCAD supervisors,
said the government has filed a response pleading within the past 30
days.

The suit is filed on behalf of 143 current and former supervisors and
requests 8 percent of their hourly wages for all the time they were
exposed to asbestos. This is the same request made by the 3,500 CCAD
employees, who were awarded $82 million in a November 2001 settlement.

The Army has all the records to substantiate the best dollar amount for
wage reimbursement, Tighe said.

The suit also seeks $18 million for attorney fees, litigation expenses
and court costs.

"Our clients stood shoulder to shoulder, day in and day out with the men
and women who already received environmental differential pay," Tighe
said. "They are supervisors of those individuals. The Army has no valid
basis to refuse to pay our clients the same amount it has already paid
their coworkers."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_2413286,00.html

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