Details have been made public of the settlement to a class action lawsuit over health and safety conditions at the Massachusetts state courthouse in Springfield.
The settlement details a number of actions the state Trial Court administration must take at the Roderick Ireland Courthouse that include remediating toxic mold, upgrading the air filtration, doing a deep cleaning, and improving building maintenance to prevent mold and water damage from recurring.
Additionally, the settlement requires an outside vendor be hired to conduct weekly air sampling inside the building and provide the results to department heads, unions, and a coordinator who will be appointed to see that the terms of the settlement are satisfied.
Springfield attorney Jeff Morneau, who represented the plaintiffs said they are “thrilled” by the outcome of the litigation.
“These repairs they’ve agreed to do, the timeframe they’ve agreed to do them, will at the end of the day make this building safe,” Morneau said.
The settlement which was negotiated over the course of about two weeks was announced last Friday on the eve of going to trial. The details were announced at a press conference Tuesday morning in front of the Courthouse.
Doing the remediation work while the building is occupied had been a sticking point. The deep-cleaning will take place while the Courthouse is shut down for several days surrounding the upcoming July 4th holiday.
“We are hoping when people come back to work it will be a cathartic experience for them when they see how clean this building is,” Morneau said.
If everything goes according to the schedule outlined in the settlement, Morneau said all the cleaning and remediation work should be finished by Labor Day.
For decades, employees in the Courthouse complained about unhealthy and unsafe conditions resulting from water leaks and problems with mechanical systems. Things came to a head about nine months ago when mold appeared in many parts of the building.
Register of Deeds Cheryl Coakley-Rivera moved her staff to satellite offices or remote work from home and became the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit demanding the courthouse be closed. She said before the lawsuit, complaints about unsafe conditions fell on deaf ears.
“(The lawsuit) was the only reason they responded,” Coakley-Rivera said. “This is why we have our system in place – to make people do what they are supposed to do. Unfortunately, people have died and gotten very very sick.”
Five people who once worked in the building –three of them judges – have died from ALS. There have been at least 60 cancer cases in the last two decades.
Another provision of the settlement provides for an independent occupational health assessment and evaluation that current and former workers in the Courthouse can voluntarily participate in, explained Laura Mangini, another lawyer for the plaintiffs.
“It will help determine if environmental conditions at the Courthouse caused their health conditions and it will also make recommendations going forward about what the next steps should be,” Mangini said.
The settlement also calls for the state to conclude by June of next year a feasibility study into building a new courthouse for Hampden County.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said the city’s economic development officials are already scouting possible locations for a new courthouse.
“We’re all in,” Sarno said. “My goal is to have that new courthouse built right in downtown Springfield and we do have areas where that can take place. I’m glad this is moving forward.”
The cost to construct a new courthouse has been estimated at $200 million. Renovating the existing 50-year-old building, including replacing most of the mechanical systems, would reportedly cost half that amount.
