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daily-journal.com (Illinois): Pipeline spill settlement claim forms mailed

12/27/2007, 3:01 pm

By Jon Krenek
[email protected]
815-937-3370

If you are one of 1,500 Limestone Township property owners, check the mail for an envelope marked with the word “important” in red ink. It may look like junk mail, but it’s not.

Forms were mailed this week, as well as instructions, for claiming the portion of the $26 million Shell Oil agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit over the 1988 gasoline pipeline spill.

“People will have to read them, get receipts for their expenditures and send them to the administrator,” said Joseph Yurgine, the attorney who represented residents in the class action lawsuit against Shell Oil. “In my view, every penny of that settlement should end up in the pockets of Limestone claimants.”

The money is part of a record $46-million settlement between Shell Oil and Limestone Township residents — another $20 million will be used to extend water mains and hookups to homes.

Shell Oil, which agreed to the settlement, could not be reached for comment.

Circuit Court Judge Gordon Lustfeldt authorized the mailing and appointed a settlement fund administrator last week to oversee claims from residents seeking compensation for expenses and lost property values. Completing the claim form is the first step residents can take to get their share of $26 million in settlement proceeds.

The mailing will also include basic instructions for objecting to the settlement, how to participate in an upcoming court hearing to ensure the settlement is fair, and how individual residents can seek a lawsuit on their own. Residents who sign the claim forms will give up their rights to sue Shell Oil for any additional property damages, according to the mailing.

Retired Will County Judge Thomas Ewert, who presided over civil cases in Will County for 22 years, was tapped to serve as administrator of the settlement fund and oversee claims. Ewert did similar work for a federal case involving compensation for owners who lost property during construction of a natural gas pipeline, according to his resume.

Ewert advised residents to back up claims with documentation and move quickly. “The sooner they get it in, the sooner we can start processing it,” said Ewert.

For more information on the settlement, visit www.kankakeeclassaction.com.

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One Comment

  1. FRANKLIN DUANE PHILLIPS says:

    WE LIVED AT 194 S. 3000 W KANKAKEE, IL 60901 WITH OUR SONS UNTIL DEC. 1991. OUR OLDEST SON ROBERT PHILLIPS AND HIS SON JASON PHILLIPS BOUGHT THE HOME AND LIVED THERE TIL JULY 13 2000 WHEN HOUSE BLEW UP FROM GAS EXPLOSION. THE LOT IS EMPTY NOW..

    FRANKLIN DUANE & JO NN PHILLIPS
    OUR NEW ADDRESS IS 3081 RIVER ROAD, KANKAKEE, IL. 60901

    ROBERT PHILLIPS NEW ADDRESS IS
    55 BOCA CHICA ROAD LOT#414
    KEY WEST, FL. 33040

    JASON PHILLIPS NEW ADDRESS IS
    11118 W. 4000 N.
    BONFIELD, IL. 60913