W.R. Grace to receive $1.13 million under petroleum hydrocarbon clean-up lawsuit settlement

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, July 22 - W.R. Grace & Co. requested court approval of a settlement that resolves "years of litigation" related to the clean-up of a Jersey City, N.J., property to address petroleum hydrocarbon contamination and leasehold damages, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Under the settlement, Grace said it will receive a $1.13 million payment from the lawsuit defendants to recover response costs under claims asserted under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act and common law and for leasehold damages.

In exchange, W.R. Grace has agreed to drop the lawsuit.

The defendants include Weja, Inc. and Wallace Teich, Daniel V. Richards of Sunich Enterprises, Inc. and G.E. 440, Inc., Shell Oil Co. and Sunoco, Inc.

According to the motion, W.R. Grace spent $1.8 million toward clean-up and related expenses at the site in 1995, and it subsequently sued Weja and Teich, the owners of a gas station on the property, to recover some of the costs.

A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 2.

W.R. Grace, a Columbia, Md.-based specialty chemicals company, filed for bankruptcy on April 2, 2001. Its Chapter 11 case number is 01-01139.

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