$94.5 million settlement approved for Illinois property owners and tenants within three miles of Chemtool, Incorporated’s plant in Rockton, Illinois.
On September 27, 2024, the Honorable Stephen E. Balogh, Associate Judge of the 17th Judicial Circuit, Winnebago County, Illinois, granted the joint motion of the class plaintiffs and defendant Chemtool, Incorporated for final approval of their proposed Class Action Settlement Agreement which requires Chemtool to pay a total of $94.5 million to cover payments to class members and other claimants, as well as incentive awards for the named plaintiffs, and attorneys’ fees and costs. A copy of the Court’s order may be accessed here. The Settlement Agreement resolves claims against Chemtool and its parent company, The Lubrizol Corporation, resulting from a fire and series of explosions that occurred in June 2021 at Chemtool’s grease and lubricant manufacturing facility in Rockton, Illinois.
The class plaintiffs are represented by co-lead counsel, Daniel Rock Flynn, and Anna Claire Skinner of DiCello Levitt, together with co-lead counsel, Robert Libman, and Roisin Duffy-Gideon, of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, and co-lead counsel, Robert M. Foote, of Foote Mielke, Chaves & O’Neil, LLC, along with the plaintiffs’ executive committee members Deanna Pihos of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, Edwards J. Manzke of the Collins Law Firm, P.C., David Neiman or Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, Steven Hart of Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge, LLC, and class liaison counsel Marc C. Gravino of Williams McCarthy LLP.