By Jim Woods
Dispatch Staff Reporter

A 17-year crusade against GeorgiaPacific finally paid off yesterday for Roberta Booth and her South Side Community Action Association as they agreed to a $22 million out-of- court settlement.

"We have climbed many mountains, we have cried in the valley, and today we're going to rejoice a little," Booth said before meeting with about 125 South Siders who gathered last night at the Hosack Street Baptist Church to hear more about the settlement.

Georgia-Pacific is agreeing to put in escrow $22 million to end a class- action lawsuit that was filed three years ago on behalf of neighbors of the chemical plant. As many as 6,000 people who live around the plant could qualify for some of the money.

The suit was filed after an 8,500- gallon resin kettle exploded at the plant on Sept. 10, 1997.

A worker was killed in the explosion and 13 others were injured. In addition, 15 homes were evacuated and the concussive shock wave damaged a number of houses.

The settlement means there is a greater chance that people will be reimbursed for damages, said D. David Altman of Cincinnati, lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

"Some of the people being compensated would have never been able to bring a case in a court of law because of the rigidity of the law," Altman said.

Residents in the Georgia-Pacific neighborhood will now be sent claim forms to fill out if they've had their health or home damaged. After all claims are submitted, a "fairness hearing" will be held in December to allow residents to make their complaints known before any final amounts are paid.

Attorneys' fees are usually paid after the final settlement. Altman said that fee is capped at 25 percent of the $22 million settlement -- meaning the attorneys could receive as much as $5.5 million.

If all 6,000 residents were to divide the rest, it would average about $2,700 per resident, but that's not how the money likely will be divided. Instead, a resident who can prove a chronic health problem caused by the plant, for example, would likely be compensated with more money than a resident replacing bricks at his home.

Attorney Stephen Chappelear, past president of the Columbus Bar Association, has been tracking lawsuits in the county for more than a decade. He called the Georgia-Pacific deal "a very large settlement," but said it's impossible to compare it because the amounts of most cases settled out of court are usually kept confidential.

"It's difficult to say if it's the biggest or the fifth-biggest or whatever," Chappelear said last night.

Altman said he had no objection to the case going to trial, but "We represent a lot of older people. We want people to be able to enjoy the settlement they are entitled to when they are alive."

Booth has battled health problems.

Cancer was diagnosed in 1999, and she was given just a few months to live at that time. Now 72, Booth said she's about to start a new round of treatment for her illness.

"I may have cancer but cancer doesn't have me," she said.

Booth helped form the South Side Community Action Association after a 1984 accident at the Georgia-Pacific plant released a chemical cloud over the South Side neighborhood.

The group filed a lawsuit after that incident, but it was dismissed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court because the attorney representing the association failed to meet filing deadlines.

The license of attorney Louis Bernard LaCour was suspended for two years by the Ohio Supreme Court for how he mishandled the case.

Booth said that was a difficult time for her, with some people accusing her and other leaders of South Side Community Action with pocketing money.

"We never took a penny," she said.

Booth said she knelt and prayed for guidance after the Sept. 10, 1997, incident at Georgia-Pacific.

Altman, an environmental lawyer who has been successful in a number of major settlements in the Cincinnati area, was hired to handle the case.

"The people on the South Side had a struggle they took on to stand up against what has been happening to them," Altman said. "Government has not always been there for them."

Altman complimented Booth's leadership.

"She is a wonderful, indomitable woman who, despite having serious cancer, has not wavered a bit in her leadership," Altman said.

Georgia-Pacific settled the case because it was time to move on, said Chuck Jones, a company spokesman.

"The fact is Georgia-Pacific had an unfortunate and tragic accident at our plant," Jones said. "While there might have been strong disagreement between Georgia-Pacific and the plaintiffs about the impact of the accident on the community, prolonging the litigation for years is not productive for our plant or residents of the South Side."

Georgia-Pacific spent millions to rebuild its plant after the accident and paid more than $400,000 in fines for safety violations.

It now employs 40 in the production of resins and formaldehyde.

The company had blamed the explosion on the worker who died, saying he improperly mixed chemicals. The family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, which was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Yesterday's settlement was years in the making. U.S. Magistrate Norah McCann King was called upon to mediate the negotiations.

"It was arm's length, like the Ohio State-Michigan game," Altman said. "Every word in the agreement was in contention."

Booth said many doubted her organization would succeed. But she didn't.

"I always looked and believed there would be a victory."