Driver files depot claim

Published Oct. 6, 2001

Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - A long-haul trucker filed a tort claim against the Department of Defense, saying he was exposed to chemical agents at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

Richard Carras of Vancouver, Wash., also is suing two Army subcontractors for damages for the injuries related to the incident.

Carras said he was exposed nerve agents sarin and VX and blister agent mustard when he was hired to pick up and transport hundreds of drums of chemical waste to Portland in June 1997.

Portland attorney James E. McCandlish filed a complaint against Container Management Services LLC, a California company, and Phillip Services Corporation Inc., a Delaware corporation, on behalf of Carras two weeks ago. McCandlish also filed a tort claim July 31 with the Department of Defense.

McCandlish said the tort claim must be filed before someone can sue the government. The Department of Defense has 180 days to respond before a lawsuit can be filed.

McCandlish said Carras was working for Lovek Transportation at the time of the incident. That company is no longer in business, he added.

The complaint says that in June 1997, Carras was sent to the depot to pick up steel drums of hazardous waste. When Carras got to the site, four Phillips employees opened an igloo in J-Block where hazardous waste is stored. Depot spokesman Jim Hackett confirmed that hazardous waste, such as spent decontamination liquid, is kept in drums in the J-Block portion of the depot.

The appropriate Army officials could not be reached Friday for comment.

McCandlish said the Phillips employees all were wearing protective gear, including gloves and carbon-filter respirators. Carras was wearing only street clothes and a paper mask. The complaint says Carras asked the employees what was in the drums, but they would not tell him.

The complaint states Carras helped load his truck and drove it to Container Management Services in Portland. During the trip he developed a headache, blurred vision and nausea.

When Carras reached Container Management Services, the employee who met him there would not help unload the drums. So Carras did it himself.

"After the plaintiff unloaded his truck he reported to the CMS administrative office, complaining that he was very ill and that he had to unload the trailer himself," McCandlish said. "By 10:30 p.m., the plaintiff's throat had become sore and irritated and he was having difficulty breathing."

McCandlish said that over the following days and months, Carras continued to get worse - developing pulmonary problems, blisters and rashes, confusion and he even lost the ability to speak for some time.

"He was totally devastated by this," McCandlish said.

In addition, Carras' employer had failed to make his medical insurance payments, and his doctors and even emergency rooms would no longer give him treatment.

McCandlish said Carras was coughing up blood for about a year before he was able to get to a doctor who found lesions inside his throat and removed them surgically.

Carras is suing the two companies for negligence and fraud by not warning him what was in the drums and the dangers of handling them and by not providing him with the equipment to handle them safely.

McCandlish also is handling the lawsuits of 50 other depot employees who claim they were injured in a chemical accident at the depot Sept. 15, 1999. The Army has denied all claims of a nerve agent accident on that date.

 

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