GERMAN RUBENSTEIN LLP Steven J. German, Esq Joel M. Rubenstein, Esq. 19 West 44th Street, Suite 1500 New York, NY 10036 Telephone: (212) 704-2020 Facsimile: (212) 490-4800 WILLIAMS CUKER & BEREZOFSKY Esther E. Berezofsky, Esq. Gerald J. Williams, Esq. Woodland Falls Corporate Center 210 Lake Drive East, Suite 101 Cherry Hill, NJ 08002 Telephone: (856) 667-0500 Facsimile: (856) 667-5133 KANNER & WHITELEY, L-L.C. Allan Kanner, Esq. 701 Camp Street ‘New Orleans, LA 70130 Telephone: (504) 524-5777 Facsimile: (504) 524-5763 Trial Counsel for Plaintiffs and the Classes JANET, JENNER & SUGGS, LLC Howard A. Janet, Esq. (pro hac vice admission to be applied for) Robert K. Jenner, Esq. (pro hac vice admission to be applied for) Kenneth M. Suggs, Esq. (pro hac vice admission to be applied for) 1829 Reisterstown Road, Suite 320 Baltimore, MD 21208 a (410) 653-3200 Facsimile: (410) 653-6903 KANNER & WHITELEY, L.L.C. Elizabeth Petersen, Esq. (pro hac vice admission to be applied for) Rebecca J. Davis, Esq. (pro hac vice admission to be applied for) 701 Camp Street ‘New Orleans, LA 70130 Telephone: (504) 524-5777 Facsimile: (504) 524-5763 Of CounselLATREICA SMITH, MATTIE HALLEY, | SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY and BARRY WEIN | LAW DIVISION On Behalf of Themselves | HUDSON COUNTY And all Others Similarly Situated | Docket No. © Plaintiffs, v and PPG INDUSTRIES, INC., | | | HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL, INC. | I I | Defendan CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT AND JURY DEMAND Plaintiffs, by their attomeys, German Rubenstein LLP, Williams Cuker and Berezofsky, Kanner & Whiteley, L.L.C., and Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC, bring this Civil Action on their own behalf and on behalf of the Classes they represent to obtain damages, both compensatory and punitive and costs of suit from the named Defendants, and complain and allege, in this Class Action Complaint, as follows: I. INTRODUCTION 1. This is a Civil Action to secure redress from the Defendants for damages suffered by Plaintiffs as_a_result of the. Defendants’ wrongful emission, release, discharge, handling,. storage, transportation, processing, and disposal of their toxic and hazardous manufacturing by- product Chromium Ore Processing Residue (“COPR”) in Jersey City, New Jersey, and/or their failure to identify, remove and or properly remediate said COPR and related chromium contamination. 2. Plaintiffs have been exposed to hazardous substances released as a result of Defendants’ conduct in operating chromate production facilities and dumping hazardous waste in 2Jersey City, New Jersey. Defendants created and dumped over one million tons of waste materials, including COPR, which contains hexavalent chromium and other toxic metals such as aluminum, antimony, barium, beryllium, cadmium, calcium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese, nickel, potassium, silver, silicon, vanadium, zinc and titanium in Jersey City, New Jersey. 3. These hazardous waste materials released airborne matter that scattered so that persons in Jersey City were and, continue to be exposed to hazardous materials. Plaintiffs and class members have been contaminated with hazardous substances, including hexavalent chromium, contained within dust, dirt, and/or other releases from the disposal areas. 4, The waste materials have been and continue to be a source of hazardous substance emissions onto, within and surrounding properties and persons in Jersey City. ‘The waste contains, and has continuously released into Jersey City, a variety of hazardous substances. 5. Wind, erosion and other airbome and waterborne releases of the waste materials have caused these hidden hazardous’substances to spread within Jersey City. The hazardous substances were and are transported by wind and other natural and human processes onto and into Plaintiffs’ homes, property and persons. _____.___6, Health. and_environmental. regulators. publicly assured Jersey City residents that the presence of COPR and exposure to the chromium contained in COPR did not present a cancer risk. However, in September 2008, the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (“ATSDR”), for the first time, determined that citizens of Jersey City in close proximity to COPR sites had as high as a 17% increase in the incidence of lung cancer. Hexavalent chromium is a potent lung carcinogen.7. Asa result of Defendants’ disposal and failure to properly remediate COPR and related contamination, including indoor and outdoor hexavalent chromium contamination, Plaintiffs and the class members are at risk of developing serious latent disease and other adverse medical conditions. 8. Large amounts of COPR and related chromium contamination remain today in Jersey City. A November 2008 dust study of homes in Jersey City detected, for the first time, the presence of hexavalent chromium in all homes studied. 9. The ongoing presence of COPR, COPR Sites and related chromium contamination has impacted Plaintiffs’ properties, is a blight on Plaintiffs’ community and deprives Plaintiffs of their free use and enjoyment of their property. ‘The impact of Defendants’ disposal of, and/or failure to properly remediate, chromium contamination, to this day impacts Jersey City. I. PARTIES 10. Plaintiff Latreica Smith is a resident of Jersey City, New Jersey. Plaintiff Latreica ‘Smith owns the property located at 34 Wade Street, Jersey City, New Jersey. As a result of the actions of the Defendants, hexavalent chromium and other hazardous substances have entered conto her property, have contaminated her property, air, land, dwelling and surrounding environment, thereby causing Latreica Smith to suffer damage to her property and personal finance, loss of the use and enjoyment of her residence and destruction of her community. Prior to May 17, 2010, Plaintiff Latreica Smith resided at the parcel of land located at 101 Randolph Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey, for a period of greater than six consecutive months. 101 Randolph Avenue is located within 500 feet of a COPR Site, As a result of the actions of the 4Defendants, hexavalent chromium and other toxic substances entered onto her person, property, air, land, and dwelling, thereby causing Latreica Smith to suffer an increased risk of future illness necessitating medical monitoring. 11. Plaintiff Mattie Halley is a resident of Jersey City, New Jersey. Plaintiff Mattie Halley owns the property located at 101 Randolph Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey. As a result of the actions of the Defendants, hexavalent chromium and other hazardous substances have entered onto her property, have contaminated her property, air, land, dwelling and surrounding environment, thereby causing Mattie Halley to suffer damage to her property and personal finance, loss of the use and enjoyment of her residence and destruction of her community. 12. Plaintiff Barry Wein is a resident of the State of New Jersey. Prior to May 17, 2010, Plaintiff Barry Wein resided at the parcel of land located at 405 Stegman Parkway, Jersey City, New Jersey, for a period of greater than six consecutive months. 405 Stegman Parkway is located within 500 feet of a COPR Site. As a result of the actions of the Defendants, hexavalent chromium and other toxic substances entered onto his person, property, air, land, and dwelling, thereby causing Barry Wein to suffer an increased risk of future illness necessitating medical monitoring. 13. More than two-thirds of the members of the proposed classes are citizens of the State of New Jersey. Defendants 14, Defendant Honeywell Intemational, Inc. (“Honeywell”) is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, with its principal place of business located at 101 Columbia Road, Morristown, New Jersey 07960.15, Honeywell is the successor corporation to Mutual Chemical Company of America which, from about 1895 to 1954, owned and operated a chromate chemical production facility on West Side Avenue in the City of Jersey City, described on the 1977 municipal tax map of Jersey City, County of Hudson, State of New Jersey as Block 1285, Lots 7 and 7A, and Block 1286, Lots 6A, 6C and 6D (the “Honeywell Facility”). 16. Defendant PPG Industries, Inc. (“PPG”) is a corporation organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with its principal place of business at One PPG Place, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15272. 17. PPG is the successor corporation to Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and Natural Refining Company which, from about 1924 to 1963, operated a chromate chemical production facility located at 880 Garfield Avenue, Jersey City, described on the 1977 municipal tax map of Jersey City, County of Hudson, State of New Jersey as Block 2025.A, Lot 3.A, and Block 2026.A, Lots 1, 2.A and 3.B (the “PPG Facility”). 18. Defendants Honeywell and PPG (collectively “Defendants”) were the only generators of COPR within Jersey City, New Jersey. 19, Throughout Jersey City there were numerous sites where Defendants disposed of COPR (CORR Sites”). See Attachment A. 20. During the course of their respective operations, the Defendants generated over one million tons of COPR in the following amounts: Honeywell approximately 969,500 tons and PPG approximately 300,000 tons. 21. Each Defendant generated COPR waste at its respective chromium production facility and arranged for the removal and disposal of its COPR from its production facility.