550 JOIN LAWSUIT AGAINST LOCKHEED : ACTION CLAIMS LACK OF TOXICS WARNING.

Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer

Some 550 Burbank residents have joined a mass tort action against Lockheed Martin Corp. in which they claim the aerospace giant failed to warn them that carcinogens were being released from the company's now defunct aircraft plant.

``In this suit, we will prove for each plaintiff exactly how they were hurt,'' said attorney Peter J. Bezek, who represents one of four law firms handling the action.

Bezek said the case is an extension of two earlier lawsuits filed by Los Angeles lawyer Allan Sigel. Since it is a mass-tort action, a new lawsuit needs to be filed each time new names are added to the case. Eventually all the suits will be combined into one case.

Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Maureen Curow said Wednesday the company has not received a copy of the lawsuit and could not comment. In the past, Lockheed officials have said none of the operations at the plant ever posed a health risk to residents.

Lawsuits representing nearly 1,200 plaintiffs have been filed against Lockheed since the company, without admitting any liability, agreed to a $60 million settlement with 1,357 residents who claimed that the plant's operations affected their health and property.

The aircraft plant, known as B-1, bustled for six decades, assembling and developing commercial aircraft and classified government projects, including the U-2 spy plane and the stealth fighter.

The plant closed in 1990. Six years later, the facility has become the focus of the settlement and three other lawsuits.

The latest suit alleges fraud, deceit and negligence against the aerospace giant for failing to inform residents about the carcinogenic properties of hexavalent chromium, known as Chromium VI; trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and other toxic chemicals that they claim were released into the local groundwater, air and soil, according to Bezek.

``We have people with all kinds of cancer: brain cancer, Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma,'' Bezek said. ``All these cancers, we contend, were caused by the carcinogen Chromium VI.''

Chromium VI is a byproduct created during stainless-steel manufacturing and chrome plating. The chromium compound has been linked to lung cancer from inhalation of particles, according to researchers.

Bezek said he is asking for an unspecified amount of damages for the plaintiffs for personal injury, loss of property value, medical bills and pain and suffering. Punitive damages also are being sought, he said.

On Monday, Lockheed also was sued by residents claiming that a rocket plant in Redlands in San Bernardino County contaminated local groundwater from 1960 to 1974. The suit alleges that Lockheed polluted the groundwater with trichloroethylene.

Lockheed officials said they had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it.