Mayor Brown Hails Hickory Woods Settlement

Mayor Byron W. Brown today praised New York State Supreme Court Justice John A. Michalek’s approval of a Hickory Woods Settlement Agreement that will end four lawsuits against the City of Buffalo and the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, brought by or on behalf of 227 plaintiffs who presently or formerly resided in the City’s Hickory Woods neighborhood.

“This settlement concludes a chapter in the City’s history that commenced during the Griffin Administration, came to light during the Masiello Administration and now is resolved in Brown Administration,” said Mayor Brown. “Upon entering office I stated that it was my priority to resolve this lingering issue and I reiterated in my 2007 State of the City that I remained committed to bringing this matter to closure.  Today, we have achieved that goal.”

The Settlement Agreement proposed to end the litigation brought by the Hickory Woods residents eight years ago for personal injuries and/or property damages resulting from alleged contamination in connection with steel making operations at a site formerly owned and/or operated by The Hanna Furnace Corporation, Donner-Hanna Coke Corporation, National Steel Corporation and LTV Steel Company, Inc., located adjacent to or near the plaintiffs’ residences.  

“The settlement agreement sets up a fair, rational and systematic procedure to settle the claims and the long-standing litigation,” said City of Buffalo Corporation Counsel Alisa Lukasiewicz.  “The parties will be relying on the fairness of the Court, and the Court will remain directly involved throughout the settlement process.”
The settlement process will involve the City and BURA contributing $7,200,000 to a settlement fund, which will be held by a local FDIC-insured bank in an escrow account until the Court determines the total allocation for each plaintiff and issues an order directing the disbursement of the settlement funds.

After the City and BURA have delivered the settlement fund to the bank, the City and BURA will have no involvement in the distribution or allocation of the settlement funds among any or all of the plaintiffs. Those functions will be carried out solely at the discretion and direction of the Court.

The Court will look at numerous factors in determining the additional amount to be awarded to each participating plaintiff, including the damages, if any, that each participating plaintiff has sustained and their individual facts and circumstances.
The Court will consider all damages claimed by a particular plaintiff, including:
                   any loss of value to the plaintiff’s real or personal property

                   any relocation or moving costs
                  
                   any lost quality of life 
                   
                   any personal injuries and
 
                   any economic losses.

Each plaintiff will be provided the opportunity to present to the Court information describing the nature, extent and severity of each plaintiff’s injuries or damages, as well as any other facts that any plaintiff deems relevant to his claims.

Based upon all of the information supplied by each plaintiff, the Court will determine a fair and equitable allocation and disbursement of settlement funds to each plaintiff.