Children file lawsuit for wrongful death of father against Southern California Edison nuclear-power plant.SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 1995--Linda McLandrich, as mother and guardian ad litem A guardian appointed by the court to represent the interests of Infants, the unborn, or incompetent persons in legal actions. Guardians are adults who are legally responsible for protecting the well-being and interests of their ward, who is usually a minor. for her children, Cheryl Marie, age 15, and Paul Michael, age 9, filed a complaint Monday for wrongful death and personal injuries in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, against Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. Co. (SCE SCE (in Scotland) Scottish Certificate of Education SCE n abbr (= Scottish Certificate of Education) → Schulabschlusszeugnis in Schottland ), San Diego Gas & Electric and Combustion Engineering Inc. McLandrich vs. SCE is the third lawsuit brought against the defendants to allege that overexposure overexposure too long an exposure time or too high a milliamperage causing too black a picture, loss of detail and some anomalies of translucency. to nuclear radiation at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is a nuclear power plant located on the Pacific coast of California. The 84 acre (340,000 m²) site is in the northwestern corner of San Diego County, south of San Clemente, and surrounded by the San Onofre State Park. (SONGS) in San Clemente, Calif., caused an individual's terminal cancer. Demand was made for a trial by jury, and punitive damages are sought. Don Howarth and Suzelle M. Smith, with the Los Angeles law firm of Howarth & Smith, represent the family. The children of Gregory McLandrich allege that during their father's employ at SONGS, he was overexposed o·ver·ex·pose tr.v. o·ver·ex·posed, o·ver·ex·pos·ing, o·ver·ex·pos·es 1. To expose too long or too much: Don't overexpose the children to television. 2. to dangerous levels of radiation, including irradiated fuel fragments known as ``fuel fleas,'' and that SCE failed to provide adequate safety measures; that detection, monitoring and documentation of radiation exposure were all seriously flawed at SONGS; that dosimetry dosimetry /do·sim·e·try/ (do-sim´e-tre) scientific determination of amount, rate, and distribution of radiation emitted from a source of ionizing radiation, in biological d. devices were inadequate; and that SCE failed to correct or warn him about hazardous conditions at SONGS. As a result, McLandrich was diagnosed in August 1989 with leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of soft-tissue cancer of the abdomen, and died on Aug. 30, 1991, at age 42. McLandrich spent his entire 17-year career at SONGS, beginning as an assistant engineer in 1973 after he had graduated from UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX , then being promoted to nuclear engineer and then rising to the high-ranking position of supervising engineer, responsible for overseeing a variety of important projects. His duties at SONGS took him to virtually every area of the plant, including the containment areas in Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3. As alleged in the complaint, SCE knew that Unit 3 had a failed- fuel-rod problem but, instead of ordering an immediate shutdown, waited approximately 18 months until a previously scheduled refueling to shut down. ``These and other incidents dramatically reveal that SCE has placed corporate profits above employee safety,'' said Smith, ``and that such decisions increased Gregory's risk of harmful exposure to nuclear radiation and, in fact, contributed to his ultimate death. ``For example, from July 1985 through June 1986, SONGS reported 236 contaminations, compared to an industry median of 130. And, even worse, the defendants have admitted, as alleged in the complaint, that the number of contaminations from Jan. 1, 1983, to Dec. 31, 1987, was an even higher number -- approximately 5,000 contaminations.'' ``We intend to fight hard for the McLandrich family,'' said Howarth, ``and are confident that they have a strong case for a civil remedy and not one limited by workers'-compensation laws. We will prove that SCE acted deceptively and concealed information about Gregory's exposures to radiation or nuclear-fuel fleas at SONGS that led to and aggravated his injury, and caused him to die such a painful death.'' Howarth & Smith also represents Glen James in his personal- injury lawsuit filed July 12, 1994, against SCE, James vs. SCE, which alleges that hazardous conditions and dangerous levels of radiation, including exposure to ``fuel fleas,'' caused his chronic myelocytic leukemia chronic myelocytic leukemia Chronic granulocytic leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia Hematology An indolent leukemia, characterized by an ↑ in mature granulocytes in the peripheral circulation Treatment Imatinib mesylate induces . The firm also represented R.C. Tang in Tang vs. SCE, the first case to be tried against SCE, which alleged that similar exposures to radiation and other emissions, such as Cobalt 60 particles and noble gases, resulted in her contracting myelogenous leukemia, first diagnosed in November 1992; that matter settled March 14, 1994, on the eve On the Eve (Накануне in Russian) is the third novel by famous Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, best known for his short stories and the novel Fathers and Sons. of retrial. CONTACT: Communication Art Forms, Los Angeles Kathy Pinckert, 310/836-8355 310/724-9554 (pager) |
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