If you or a loved one suffered injuries, property damage, or other financial losses due to another party’s actions, you may be entitled to compensation for those losses.
Contact the experienced Chicago personal injury lawyers from TorHoerman Law for a free, no-obligation Chicago personal injury lawsuit case consultation today.
If you or a loved one suffered a personal injury or financial loss due to a car accident in Chicago, IL – you may be entitled to compensation for those damages.
Contact an experienced Chicago auto accident lawyer from TorHoerman Law today to see how our firm can serve you!
If you or a loved one have suffered injuries, property damage, or other financial losses due to a truck accident in Chicago, IL – you may qualify to take legal action to gain compensation for those injuries and losses.
Contact TorHoerman Law today for a free, no-obligation consultation with our Chicago truck accident lawyers!
If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a motorcycle accident in Chicago or the greater Chicagoland area – you may be eligible to file a Chicago motorcycle accident lawsuit.
Contact an experienced Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer at TorHoerman Law today to find out how we can help.
If you have been involved in a bicycle accident in Chicago at no fault of your own and you suffered injuries as a result, you may qualify to file a Chicago bike accident lawsuit.
Contact a Chicago bicycle accident lawyer from TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options today!
Chicago is one of the nation’s largest construction centers.
Thousands of men and women work on sites across the city and metropolitan area on tasks ranging from skilled trades to administrative operations.
Unfortunately, construction site accidents are fairly common.
Contact TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options with an experienced Chicago construction accident lawyer, free of charge and no obligation required.
Nursing homes and nursing facilities should provide a safe, supportive environment for senior citizens, with qualified staff, nurses, and aids administering quality care.
Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect can occur, leaving residents at risk and vulnerable.
Contact an experienced Chicago nursing home abuse attorney from TorHoerman Law today for a free consultation to discuss your legal options.
If you are a resident of Chicago, or the greater Chicagoland area, and you have a loved one who suffered a fatal injury due to another party’s negligence or malpractice – you may qualify to file a wrongful death lawsuit on your loved one’s behalf.
Contact a Chicago wrongful death lawyer from TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options today!
If you have suffered a slip and fall injury in Chicago you may be eligible for compensation through legal action.
Contact a Chicago slip and fall lawyer at TorHoerman Law today!
TorHoerman Law offers free, no-obligation case consultations for all potential clients.
When a child is injured at a daycare center, parents are left wondering who can be held liable, who to contact for legal help, and how a lawsuit may pan out for them.
If your child has suffered an injury at a daycare facility, you may be eligible to file a daycare injury lawsuit.
Contact a Chicago daycare injury lawyer from TorHoerman Law today for a free consultation to discuss your case and potential legal action!
If you or a loved one suffered injuries, property damage, or other financial losses due to another party’s actions, you may be entitled to compensation for those losses.
Contact the experienced Edwardsville personal injury lawyers from TorHoerman Law for a free, no-obligation Edwardsville personal injury lawsuit case consultation today.
If you or a loved one suffered a personal injury or financial loss due to a car accident in Edwardsville, IL – you may be entitled to compensation for those damages.
Contact an experienced Edwardsville car accident lawyer from TorHoerman Law today to see how our firm can serve you!
If you or a loved one have suffered injuries, property damage, or other financial losses due to a truck accident in Edwardsville, IL – you may qualify to take legal action to gain compensation for those injuries and losses.
Contact TorHoerman Law today for a free, no-obligation consultation with our Edwardsville truck accident lawyers!
If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a motorcycle accident in Edwardsville – you may be eligible to file an Edwardsville motorcycle accident lawsuit.
Contact an experienced Edwardsville motorcycle accident lawyer at TorHoerman Law today to find out how we can help.
If you have been involved in a bicycle accident in Edwardsville at no fault of your own and you suffered injuries as a result, you may qualify to file an Edwardsville bike accident lawsuit.
Contact an Edwardsville bicycle accident lawyer from TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options today!
Nursing homes and nursing facilities should provide a safe, supportive environment for senior citizens, with qualified staff, nurses, and aids administering quality care.
Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect can occur, leaving residents at risk and vulnerable.
Contact an experienced Edwardsville nursing home abuse attorney from TorHoerman Law today for a free consultation to discuss your legal options.
If you are a resident of Edwardsville and you have a loved one who suffered a fatal injury due to another party’s negligence or malpractice – you may qualify to file a wrongful death lawsuit on your loved one’s behalf.
Contact an Edwardsville wrongful death lawyer from TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options today!
If you have suffered a slip and fall injury in Edwardsville you may be eligible for compensation through legal action.
Contact an Edwardsville slip and fall lawyer at TorHoerman Law today!
TorHoerman Law offers free, no-obligation case consultations for all potential clients.
When a child is injured at a daycare center, parents are left wondering who can be held liable, who to contact for legal help, and how a lawsuit may pan out for them.
If your child has suffered an injury at a daycare facility, you may be eligible to file a daycare injury lawsuit.
Contact an Edwardsville daycare injury lawyer from TorHoerman Law today for a free consultation to discuss your case and potential legal action!
If you or a loved one suffered injuries on someone else’s property in Edwardsville IL, you may be entitled to financial compensation.
If property owners fail to keep their premises safe, and their negligence leads to injuries, property damages or other losses as a result of an accident or incident, a premises liability lawsuit may be possible.
Contact an Edwardsville premises liability lawyer from TorHoerman Law today for a free, no-obligation case consultation.
If you or a loved one suffered injuries, property damage, or other financial losses due to another party’s actions, you may be entitled to compensation for those losses.
Contact the experienced St. Louis personal injury lawyers from TorHoerman Law for a free, no-obligation St. Louis personal injury lawsuit case consultation today.
If you or a loved one suffered a personal injury or financial loss due to a car accident in St. Louis, IL – you may be entitled to compensation for those damages.
Contact an experienced St. Louis auto accident lawyer from TorHoerman Law today to see how our firm can serve you!
If you or a loved one have suffered injuries, property damage, or other financial losses due to a truck accident in St. Louis, IL – you may qualify to take legal action to gain compensation for those injuries and losses.
Contact TorHoerman Law today for a free, no-obligation consultation with our St. Louis truck accident lawyers!
If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a motorcycle accident in St. Louis or the greater St. Louis area – you may be eligible to file a St. Louis motorcycle accident lawsuit.
Contact an experienced St. Louis motorcycle accident lawyer at TorHoerman Law today to find out how we can help.
If you have been involved in a bicycle accident in St. Louis at no fault of your own and you suffered injuries as a result, you may qualify to file a St. Louis bike accident lawsuit.
Contact a St. Louis bicycle accident lawyer from TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options today!
St. Louis is one of the nation’s largest construction centers.
Thousands of men and women work on sites across the city and metropolitan area on tasks ranging from skilled trades to administrative operations.
Unfortunately, construction site accidents are fairly common.
Contact TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options with an experienced St. Louis construction accident lawyer, free of charge and no obligation required.
Nursing homes and nursing facilities should provide a safe, supportive environment for senior citizens, with qualified staff, nurses, and aids administering quality care.
Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect can occur, leaving residents at risk and vulnerable.
Contact an experienced St. Louis nursing home abuse attorney from TorHoerman Law today for a free consultation to discuss your legal options.
If you are a resident of St. Louis, or the greater St. Louis area, and you have a loved one who suffered a fatal injury due to another party’s negligence or malpractice – you may qualify to file a wrongful death lawsuit on your loved one’s behalf.
Contact a St. Louis wrongful death lawyer from TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options today!
If you have suffered a slip and fall injury in St. Louis you may be eligible for compensation through legal action.
Contact a St. Louis slip and fall lawyer at TorHoerman Law today!
TorHoerman Law offers free, no-obligation case consultations for all potential clients.
When a child is injured at a daycare center, parents are left wondering who can be held liable, who to contact for legal help, and how a lawsuit may pan out for them.
If your child has suffered an injury at a daycare facility, you may be eligible to file a daycare injury lawsuit.
Contact a St. Louis daycare injury lawyer from TorHoerman Law today for a free consultation to discuss your case and potential legal action!
Suboxone, a medication often used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD), has become a vital tool which offers a safer and more controlled approach to managing opioid addiction.
Despite its widespread use, Suboxone has been linked to severe tooth decay and dental injuries.
Suboxone Tooth Decay Lawsuits claim that the companies failed to warn about the risks of tooth decay and other dental injuries associated with Suboxone sublingual films.
Depo-Provera, a contraceptive injection, has been linked to an increased risk of developing brain tumors (including glioblastoma and meningioma).
Women who have used Depo-Provera and subsequently been diagnosed with brain tumors are filing lawsuits against Pfizer (the manufacturer), alleging that the company failed to adequately warn about the risks associated with the drug.
Despite the claims, Pfizer maintains that Depo-Provera is safe and effective, citing FDA approval and arguing that the scientific evidence does not support a causal link between the drug and brain tumors.
You may be eligible to file a Depo Provera Lawsuit if you used Depo-Provera and were diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Tepezza, approved by the FDA in 2020, is used to treat Thyroid Eye Disease (TED), but some patients have reported hearing issues after its use.
The Tepezza lawsuit claims that Horizon Therapeutics failed to warn patients about the potential risks and side effects of the drug, leading to hearing loss and other problems, such as tinnitus.
You may be eligible to file a Tepezza Lawsuit if you or a loved one took Tepezza and subsequently suffered permanent hearing loss or tinnitus.
Elmiron, a drug prescribed for interstitial cystitis, has been linked to serious eye damage and vision problems in scientific studies.
Thousands of Elmiron Lawsuits have been filed against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer, alleging that the company failed to warn patients about the potential risks.
You may be eligible to file an Elmiron Lawsuit if you or a loved one took Elmiron and subsequently suffered vision loss, blindness, or any other eye injury linked to the prescription drug.
The chemotherapy drug Taxotere, commonly used for breast cancer treatment, has been linked to severe eye injuries, permanent vision loss, and permanent hair loss.
Taxotere Lawsuits are being filed by breast cancer patients and others who have taken the chemotherapy drug and subsequently developed vision problems.
If you or a loved one used Taxotere and subsequently developed vision damage or other related medical problems, you may be eligible to file a Taxotere Lawsuit and seek financial compensation.
Although pressure cookers were designed to be safe and easy to use, a number of these devices have been found to have a defect that can lead to excessive buildup of internal pressure.
The excessive pressure may result in an explosion that puts users at risk of serious injuries such as burns, lacerations, an even electrocution.
If your pressure cooker exploded and caused substantial burn injuries or other serious injuries, you may be eligible to file a Pressure Cooker Lawsuit and secure financial compensation for your injuries and damages.
Several studies have found a correlation between heavy social media use and mental health challenges, especially among younger users.
Social media harm lawsuits claim that social media companies are responsible for onsetting or heightening mental health problems, eating disorders, mood disorders, and other negative experiences of teens and children
You may be eligible to file a Social Media Mental Health Lawsuit if you are the parents of a teen, or teens, who attribute their use of social media platforms to their mental health problems.
The Paragard IUD, a non-hormonal birth control device, has been linked to serious complications, including device breakage during removal.
Numerous lawsuits have been filed against Teva Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Paragard, alleging that the company failed to warn about the potential risks.
If you or a loved one used a Paragard IUD and subsequently suffered complications and/or injuries, you may qualify for a Paragard Lawsuit.
Patients with the PowerPort devices may possibly be at a higher risk of serious complications or injury due to a catheter failure, according to lawsuits filed against the manufacturers of the Bard PowerPort Device.
If you or a loved one have been injured by a Bard PowerPort Device, you may be eligible to file a Bard PowerPort Lawsuit and seek financial compensation.
Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits are being filed against manufacturers of transvaginal mesh products for injuries, pain and suffering, and financial costs related to complications and injuries of these medical devices.
Over 100,000 Transvaginal Mesh Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of women injured by vaginal mesh and pelvic mesh products.
If you or a loved one have suffered serious complications or injuries from vaginal mesh, you may be eligible to file a Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit.
Parents and guardians are filing lawsuits against major video game companies (including Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, and Microsoft), alleging that they intentionally designed their games to be addictive — leading to severe mental and physical health issues in minors.
The lawsuits claim that these companies used psychological tactics and manipulative game designs to keep players engaged for extended periods — causing problems such as anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal.
You may be eligible to file a Video Game Addiction Lawsuit if your child has been diagnosed with gaming addiction or has experienced negative effects from excessive gaming.
Above ground pool accidents have led to lawsuits against manufacturers due to defective restraining belts that pose serious safety risks to children.
These belts, designed to provide structural stability, can inadvertently act as footholds, allowing children to climb into the pool unsupervised, increasing the risk of drownings and injuries.
Parents and guardians are filing lawsuits against pool manufacturers, alleging that the defective design has caused severe injuries and deaths.
If your child was injured or drowned in an above ground pool accident involving a defective restraining belt, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit.
Recent scientific studies have found that the use of chemical hair straightening products, hair relaxers, and other hair products present an increased risk of uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, and other health problems.
Legal action is being taken against manufacturers and producers of these hair products for their failure to properly warn consumers of potential health risks.
You may be eligible to file a Hair Straightener Cancer Lawsuit if you or a loved one used chemical hair straighteners, hair relaxers, or other similar hair products, and subsequently were diagnosed with:
AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam) is a firefighting foam that has been linked to various health issues, including cancer, due to its PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) content.
Numerous AFFF Lawsuits have been filed against AFFF manufacturers, alleging that they knew about the health risks but failed to warn the public.
AFFF Firefighting Foam lawsuits aim to hold manufacturers accountable for putting peoples’ health at risk.
You may be eligible to file an AFFF Lawsuit if you or a loved one was exposed to firefighting foam and subsequently developed cancer.
Paraquat, a widely-used herbicide, has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, leading to numerous Paraquat Parkinson’s Disease Lawsuits against its manufacturers for failing to warn about the risks of chronic exposure.
Due to its toxicity, the EPA has restricted the use of Paraquat and it is currently banned in over 30 countries.
You may be eligible to file a Paraquat Lawsuit if you or a loved one were exposed to Paraquat and subsequently diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease or other related health conditions.
Mesothelioma is an aggressive form of cancer primarily caused by exposure to asbestos.
Asbestos trust funds were established in the 1970s to compensate workers harmed by asbestos-containing products.
These funds are designed to pay out claims to those who developed mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases due to exposure.
Those exposed to asbestos and diagnosed with mesothelioma may be eligible to file a Mesothelioma Lawsuit.
Studies have found a link between toxic baby formula and Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) — a severe intestinal condition in premature infants.
Parents and guardians are filing NEC Lawsuits against baby formula manufacturers, alleging that the formulas contain harmful ingredients leading to NEC.
Despite the claims, Abbott and Mead Johnson deny the allegations, arguing that their products are thoroughly researched and dismissing the scientific evidence linking their formulas to NEC, while the FDA issued a warning to Abbott regarding safety concerns of a formula product.
You may be eligible to file a Toxic Baby Formula NEC Lawsuit if your child received baby bovine-based (cow’s milk) baby formula in the maternity ward or NICU of a hospital and was subsequently diagnosed with Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC).
PFAS contamination lawsuits are being filed against manufacturers and suppliers of PFAS chemicals, alleging that these substances have contaminated water sources and products, leading to severe health issues.
Plaintiffs claim that prolonged exposure to PFAS through contaminated drinking water and products has caused cancers, thyroid disease, and other health problems.
The lawsuits target companies like 3M, DuPont, and Chemours, accusing them of knowingly contaminating the environment with PFAS and failing to warn about the risks.
If you or a loved one has been exposed to PFAS-contaminated water or products and has developed health issues, you may be eligible to file a PFAS lawsuit.
The Roundup Lawsuit claims that Monsanto’s popular weed killer, Roundup, causes cancer.
Numerous studies have linked the main ingredient, glyphosate, to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Leukemia, and other Lymphatic cancers.
Despite this, Monsanto continues to deny these claims.
Victims of Roundup exposure who developed cancer are filing Roundup Lawsuits against Monsanto, seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain, and suffering.
Our firm is about people. That is our motto and that will always be our reality.
We do our best to get to know our clients, understand their situations, and get them the compensation they deserve.
At TorHoerman Law, we believe that if we continue to focus on the people that we represent, and continue to be true to the people that we are – justice will always be served.
Without our team, we would’nt be able to provide our clients with anything close to the level of service they receive when they work with us.
The THL Team commits to the sincere belief that those injured by the misconduct of others, especially large corporate profit mongers, deserve justice for their injuries.
Our team is what has made TorHoerman Law a very special place since 2009.
Like an abandoned set from a science-fiction movie, the Weldon Spring complex sits behind a 6-foot wire fence off Missouri Highway 94, two miles southwest of Highway 40.
Rusting steel buildings rise from farmland taken by the government before World War II began for the production of high explosives and later used to process uranium for the country’s nuclear arsenal.
Viewed up close, the 68 buildings show their age.
Miles of pipe drip rotting insulation.
Steel drums, fork lifts, trucks and other equipment lie rusting in the factory yard.
The buildings, equipment, thousands of drums and tons of soil are contaminated with radium, uranium, thorium, nitrates and myriad other chemicals.
It is so contaminated that federal officials require visitors to check in with a guard and, for the most part, stay in federal vehicles while at the site.
No one is allowed to walk in certain areas without latex rubber boots and protective clothing.
Bright yellow and purple signs warn of radioactive contamination in and around the buildings.
Several years ago, the Army sprayed thick orange polyurethane foam on some particularly hot equipment in one of the buildings to prevent the spread of contamination.
When the Atomic Energy Commission opened the plant in 1957 to process uranium, the agency proclaimed it a showplace of technology.
The complex employed about 1,000 people and attracted visitors from several countries.
One-fourth of the $57 million construction cost went for measures to protect workers from radiation.
Workers called the plant ”The Clean One.”
It eliminated many of the processes at the old Mallinckrodt buildings in St. Louis that involved handling uranium by hand.
”The new plant was all automated,” said Paul P. Englert, a resident of St. Charles, who was an operator in the uranium refinery.
”With a dial, you could speed up production.”
Hoppers, each holding between 5 and 10 tons of uranium, would dump their contents automatically into 10,000-gallon tanks containing acid as part of the new, improved process of purifying uranium.
From the start, the plant produced beyond its capacity in order to meet the government’s demands.
Designed to process 5,000 tons of yellow uranium ore a year, the plant actually averaged 16,000 tons a year from 1958 to 1964.
Englert and other workers remember conserving every precious gram of uranium.
If the material got too hot, the lids on large pots used in one stage of the refining process would blow off, spewing puffs of orange uranium trioxide all over.
The workers would wash down the spilled powder and pump the liquid back for further processing.
Even rainwater became a source of uranium.
Workers recount how they would capture rain that fell on roofs where uranium dust may have collected.
The water was funneled inside the plant so the uranium could be separated out.
Radioactive residue and acids were disposed of by pumping them into several outdoor ponds at the plant, called raffinate pits.
Today the ponds cover 25 acres.
The mucky residue is 15 feet deep in places.
Pipes were run from the pits to a sewer line.
If it rained and the pits filled, any overflow would drain southeast from the plant toward the Missouri River. Robert J. Toomey, a retired Mallinckrodt employee, remembers when strange-looking frogs began appearing on the banks of the pits.
The frogs had bumps on them where bumps shouldn’t have been, Toomey said, adding: ”We didn’t know if it was from the acid or what.”
Many workers didn’t worry about radiation. Richard F. Schroeder, a retired Mallinckrodt worker, explained their feelings: ”It’s all invisible, right? It’s like standing somewhere and the wind’s blowing.
You can feel the wind, but you cannot feel radiation.
You don’t know what it’s doing.
”I don’t think any of us at the time worried about it,” said Schroeder, now 63.
”It was just another job,” Englert remembers when a conveyor belt carrying a 55-gallon drum of uranium ore got jammed.
When a worker reached up to get the drum loose, it tipped, spilling its contents on him.
The worker’s superiors wanted to send the man to Oak Ridge, Tenn., for tests and medical treatment, but he refused.
For many workers, the risks of accidents involving sulphuric, hydrofluoric and nitric acids used at the plant caused more anxiety than the threat of radiation.
Hydrofluoric acid was a special concern.
Some described it as ”fast-acting leprosy.”
Special cards were issued to workers to alert doctors about the acids used at the plant.
Employees tell how friends who got acid on their fingers at work later would wake up during the night to find their hands swollen to twice their usual size.
The late Mont Mason, a health physicist at the plant, recalled in an interview last year: ”I had some people who took knives in the middle of the night and split their hands open, they hurt so bad.”
By 1963, the plant started receiving enriched uranium from Oak Ridge, and workers were warned that passing the enriched material over other enriched material could set off an explosion.
The Weldon Spring plant also worked on recovering uranium from waste material shipped from Oak Ridge.
”It came on boxcars in drums,” Englert said.
”It looked like mud. They’d dump it in tanks.
It looked like someone had cleaned up a plant and sent us the old sludge.”
Empty drums that once contained uranium residue were collected near the Weldon Spring plant.
Workers remember a man coming to inspect the drums.
They say he took thousands of them to another site, where he had them pressed into blocks for sale to a junk dealer.
”The drums were supposed to be washed out, but you could see stuff stuck there in them,” said Bruno Bevolo, a retired Mallinckrodt worker.
Late in the summer of 1966, Mallinckrodt officials took workers aside and told them that the Weldon Spring plant was going to close.
The AEC contract for processing uranium was being shifted to National Lead Co. in Fernald, Ohio.
It was a bitter blow; Mallinckrodt people had designed the process and had even helped train the people at Fernald.
Workers at Weldon Spring were incensed or heartbroken.
Some of the men say they cried when they heard the news.
The workers had become a family.
Now some of them would be without jobs.
Company officials say Mallinckrodt got out of the uranium business because the demand for purified uranium had decreased and the government shifted production to the newer plant at Fernald.
But most of the workers insist it was ”politics,” arguing that Ohio’s congressional delegation outmaneuvered the Missouri delegation.
The Atomic Energy Commission ordered Mallinckrodt to place the plant on standby.
Mallinckrodt fulfilled its contract and ceased production by the end of 1966.
One of the last 35 men to work in the refinery at Weldon Spring was Paul Englert.
”They cleaned up real good,” he said.
”They washed down the place and wiped it with rags and everything.”
Other parts of the plant looked more like people had left in a hurry.
Some environmentalists in St. Charles County suggest an atomic accident might have closed the plant.
But workers and company officials say that isn’t the case, and there is no indication of an atomic accident in government records.
Today, the plant is a spooky place.
The roofs are falling in, and clumps of mold grow on the floor and walls.
But otherwise, it is as if the workers would return tomorrow.
Coffee cups sit on tables in the cafeteria.
China and the glasses are piled in dishwashers in the kitchen.
Hundreds of unused beakers, flasks and test tubes sit in drawers and cabinets in the laboratories.
Aspirin, bandages, tongue depressors, blood pressure cups, and other medical supplies sit in the infirmary, ready for use.
For 20 years after the 1966 closing, every contractor and every government agency that entered the plant was surprised at the amount of radioactive material that remained.
In 1967 and 1968, representatives of the National Lead of Ohio went to the Weldon Spring plant to see what they could salvage for the plant at Fernald.
National Lead was given its pick of contaminated stainless steel pipe, valves, vessels, spare parts, and other equipment.
A total of 20 rail cars and one truckload of material were shipped to Fernald.
The amount of uranium oxide found after the plant closed defied all previous expectations.
When a worker removed a ventilation pipe, uranium dust began to pour out.
He got a broom and a shovel, and he alternately swept and scooped and poured the dust into barrels.
Twenty barrels of the oxide sweepings were sent to Fernald.
Eventually, National Lead recovered $75,000 worth of uranium oxide from the barrels and other steel pipe and equipment.
For several months, workers for the Daniel Hamm Co., a St. Louis subcontractor that helped to load the material for National Lead, lacked protection on the job.
They had no badges to measure radiation exposure, no rubber shoes, no gloves, and no respirators.
In 1968, during an ill-fated Weldon Spring cleanup attempt conducted by the Army, seven truckloads and 81 rail cars of contaminated material were shipped to David Witherspoon Inc. of Knoxville, Tenn.
The Witherspoon firm planned to decontaminate the equipment to conform with the standards of the day and then reuse it.
One of the laborers collecting materials for shipment to Witherspoon was Roger L. Pryor, now the business manager of Laborers Local 660 in St. Charles.
”We put pipes, electric motors, stainless steel tanks in the cars,” Pryor said.
”They weren’t clean. Some of that stuff had that yellow cake in it. All that stuff was hot. Most of it was contaminated.”
During the 1968 cleanup, the government dumped 900 truckloads of radioactively contaminated material into an old quarry, four miles south of the plant.
The quarry already contained rubble from the Army’s manufacture of high explosives – TNT and DNT – in the 1940s.
It also contained tons of radioactively contaminated rubble from Mallinckrodt’s Destrehan Street plant in St. Louis.
That material included toilets, mahogany stairs, thousands of drums of thorium and residue from the uranium processed for the first atomic reaction.
During the 1960s, teenagers had dared each other to swim in the quarry.
Over the decades, warning signs were removed from the quarry area and a chain-link fence surrounding it was torn.
People had little idea of how contaminated the Weldon Spring plant was.
The federal government routinely received proposals for its use. St. Charles County wanted to use part of the plant for a home for low-income elderly people.
The University of Missouri and Francis Howell High School each wanted the complex for classroom space. Fred T. Wilkinson, then Missouri corrections director, wanted to put a maximum-security prison there.
The groups all lost interest when they learned the extent of the contamination.
Army Corps of Engineers security guards frequently caught curious teenagers trespassing at the plant or stealing Army gas masks and other equipment.
In 1986, employees of the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors arrived at the plant in 1986 to start a 12-year, $400 million cleanups.
Even they were surprised at the condition of the plant.
About 100 pounds of pure uranium metal were found scattered around the plant grounds and 1 ton of thorium was found in an abandoned building.
An estimated 214 tons of uranium and 129 tons of thorium remained in the pits. Water bubbled up from broken water lines at the rate of 200,000 gallons a day.
It carried uranium, thorium, and radium into the August A. Busch Memorial Wildlife Area.
The leaks have since been fixed.
But during heavy rain, contaminants still flow off the site into the streams and lakes of the Army Reserve and the Busch and Weldon Spring wildlife areas.
The U.S. Geologic Survey has found that contamination from the pits has leaked at least 100 feet into the groundwater.
In addition to all the radiological waste, there were large volumes of chemical wastes and acids.
Rodney Nelson, manager of the cleanup, said that the greatest surprise for his team was the discovery of carcinogenic nitrates from the processing of TNT and DNT during World War II.
Said Nelson of the cleanup, now expected to extend past the year 2000, ”We never expected it to be this complex.”
Contamination: How Weldon Springs Went from Model to Mess.
For more information about the Coldwater Creek Contamination Lawsuit, contact TorHoerman Law.
TorHoerman Law was responsible for handling a medical case for our family. I was extremely impressed with their professionalism and ability to react quickly. They also did a nice job keeping us updated with the case throughout the process. This was the first time experiencing a situation like this and Tor Hoerman law did an excellent job from start to finish.
TorHoerman Law is an extraordinary law firm – a firm that truly makes the client’s best interests the primary concern. Their team of personal injury lawyers are experienced, personable, and well versed in a range of litigation areas. They are supported by a dedicated team of staff that are as equally friendly and helpful. I would recommend TorHoerman Law for any personal injury litigation needs.
All of my questions were answered quickly and in a way I could understand. Steve and the entire staff were friendly and professional.
I highly recommend this law firm! The attorneys and staff at THL worked hard, communicated every step of the process, kept me well informed at all times, and exceeded all expectations! The staff is kind, considerate, professional, and very experienced. Look no further, call now!
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A wonderful and professional legal team. They helped me when I needed expert legal representation! Thank you TorHoerman Law!
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