Judge approves Chemtool settlement

Judge Stephen E. Balogh of 17th Judicial Circuit Court approved the final settlement on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 to allow residents to receive a portion of a $94.5 million settlement over property damage caused by the devastating explosion and fire on June 14, 2021, at Lubrizol's Chemtool facility in Rockton, Illinois. About 70 people were present on the Zoom call, with several more in the courtroom, including attorney Robert Foote, who represented the claimants for 2021-L-0000162 Charles K Grasley et al. vs. Chemtool Incorporated et al. [PDF]

Balogh seemed cheerful and down-to-earth, explaining each point of his order for the benefit of his listeners.

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The judge's order also settled a federal lawsuit, Mackey v. Chemtool Inc. Other separate lawsuits, such as personal injury claims, are unaffected.

The class action administrator, Analytics Consulting, sent 6,000 notices to residents ("the kind of thing that only a lawyer could write," says Balogh), but only received 2,300 claims. Judge Balogh said that courts have ruled that "if 70% of the class gets notice, that's presumed to be fair." Some of the notices were returned to sender, but overall, over 90% were received. He concluded, "A huge percentage of the class members received the notice by mail." 

The notices were mailed in mid-June 2024. The claim form went online on June 14, 2024, three years after the explosion. Judge Balogh observed, "A third were able to figure out how to file a claim... As of today, no objections have been filed." He said he had planned to allow time to hear each objection. "I don't have to do that. There are no objections."

On Facebook, many residents have said they filed claims, even by mail, but didn't hear back. Others said they received no confirmation code when they filed online, or that when they called 833-457-5350, they were told not to file using their phone, but rather on a computer using the Firefox browser. The deadline for filing the claim form was September 12, 2024.

Judge Balogh granted $18,000 in incentive payments for each of the seven lead plaintiffs. Other members of the class action will receive less. He said he considered that fair, since the lead plaintiffs have done more work and borne more risk on behalf on the other residents.

And the attorneys will get paid for their time and expenses. Judge Balogh granted them 35% of the Settlement Fund. That would be about $33 million of the $94.5 million.  He said courts have held that 33-45% is a reasonable contingency fee. He agreed that was "a chunk of change" but assured the courtroom that the case had been "very aggressively litigated" - neither party had "rolled over" easily. He ruled that "the class representatives and class counsel provided more than fair representation."

In the end, $51 million will be left for distribution to the class members. Judge Balogh ruled that the attorneys can make amendments and modifications to "allow them to do the scut work to get you folks paid and get this tied up." 

Another hearing will be held Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 to decide other issues. For example, the agreement does not settle the claims between Lubrizol/Chemtool and Holian, whose employee released the oil that later ignited. Both companies were cited for OSHA violations.

Rockton-Roscoe News has requested a copy of Judge Balogh's final order. We have contacted the attorneys for comments as well.

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