Years of contamination at a Southern California lead-acid battery-recycling plant caused severe health problems for local residents, including cancer and kidney failure, according to a new lawsuit, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The suit, brought against directors and officers of Exide Technologies, was filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Plaintiffs attorney Robert Mandell said yesterday that the suit is one of five that he and three other lawyers plan to bring related to the alleged effect of an Exide plant in Vernon, Calif. The group's 475 clients include children and adults who say they became ill from exposure to lead and arsenic used at the plant, as well as the families of roughly a dozen people who have died from apparent exposure.
