Orange County pays $6M to children of workers who said building caused illnesses, birth defects

Orange County has agreed to pay $6 million to the families of employees who alleged that toxic chemicals in their workplace gave them autoimmune illnesses and caused birth defects.

The county, which revealed the settlement figure last week upon the Register’s request, has repeatedly denied that the Social Services Agency building, at 840 N. Eckhoff St. in Orange, was to blame for the ailments of workers and their children. It has pointed to environmental tests that found the building is safe to occupy and has used those evaluations to support continued use of the office.

Despite that stance, county spokeswoman Jean Pasco said Orange County settled the 2010 lawsuit “because of uncertainties with the outcome of a jury trial and the impact of a state law that allows any party found to be just 1 percent at fault to pay an entire economic damage award.”

In the lawsuit, Susan Kirk alleged that working in the windowless, unventilated “red room” in the Eckhoff building when she was pregnant with her son Gavin caused him to be born in 2002 with “structural brain abnormalities, severe developmental delay, epilepsy with daily seizures, restrictive lung disease” and other afflictions.

Read more: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/county-738594-building-employees.html