Fallon cancer cases to proceed in state court

RENO -- A federal judge ruled that two wrongful death lawsuits filed by the families of Fallon leukemia cluster patients belong in state court.

U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval also dismissed a third-party lawsuit against the Navy filed by a Fallon metals firm.

"This action proceeded for three years in state courts prior to its removal, during which time the state court issued rulings on important aspects of the case," Sandoval wrote in a decision issued Tuesday.

"Moreover, the underlying merits involve complex toxic tort claims, an area of law traditionally left to state courts."

The lawsuits now will continue in Washoe District Court.

The families of Stephanie Sands, 21, and Adam Jernee, 10, filed lawsuits in 2003. They allege that pollution -- including jet fuel, tungsten products or both -- caused the leukemia that has made 17 children ill and killed three since 1997.

The defendants are Kinder-Morgan Energy Partners, owner of the jet fuel pipeline that runs through Fallon; Kennametal, a company that manufactures tungsten carbide in a kiln north of Fallon and also operates a manufacturing plant in town; and other firms associated with the pipeline.

Scientists have put the odds of the Fallon cluster being random at 1 in 232 million. Federal researchers in 2004 were unable to determine an environmental cause for the cluster, but research continues.

Kinder-Morgan officials have denied that their pipeline has anything to do with the cancer cluster.

Kennametal officials also deny any causative connection to the cluster and countersued the Navy, the federal government and 27 former Fallon Naval Air Station officers. The case was moved to U.S. District Court because federal entities were defendants.

In the countersuit, Sandoval ruled that Kennemetal's arguments, based on jurisdictional issues, were "clever" but unfounded.