Lawsuit over closed landfill in Fairfield settled out of court

FAIRFIELD – A lawsuit by 19 current and former town residents claiming that chemicals from a now-closed landfill caused illnesses and death has been settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money.

The lawsuit, filed more than two years ago in Somerset County Superior Court, was formally dismissed Friday.

The plaintiffs sought damages from Kimberly-Clark Tissue; Sappi Fine Paper North America; Central Maine Disposal Corp. and its president, Michael Wood; and the former owners of the dump, William and Jacqueline Hapworth.

Each was alleged to have contributed to a variety of illnesses over a 25-year period.

The plaintiffs said they were exposed to dangerous chemicals that were dumped in the site’s gravel pits from 1976 to 1985, when the dump was closed.

Reports by the state Department of Environmental Protection have shown that the former dump contains petroleum waste, chemical drums, paper mill sludge and caustic materials.

Fairfield residents began talking about possible links to cancer in April 1999 after Joseph Marchetti, an eventual plaintiff who has a brain tumor, went public with his concerns.

In October 1999, the Maine Bureau of Health announced there was a cancer cluster in the area, with high numbers of brain cancer and tumors in people between ages 15 and 44.

The following April, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit that argued chemicals entered the water and air and ultimately caused illnesses and deaths.

Most of the plaintiffs suffer from brain cancer, lupus or lymphoma or had family members who died from those diseases.