Forest Service employee's lawsuit against paint company dropped

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A Forest Service worker who accused a paint company of concealing the presence of banned chemicals in tree paint has dropped her lawsuit against the company.

Carla Tipton, of Baker City, Ore., dropped the suit last week, in part because the Forest Service has switched to water-based paint instead of the oil-based paint that Tipton and other employees said was causing health problems for workers.

"That was a significant factor in the decision not to pursue further court action," said Adam Berger, an attorney for Tipton.

In addition, Berger said some Forest Service officials were prepared to testify that the paint met agency standards, while the suit alleged that Niles Chemical knew the paint contained chemicals prohibited under government specifications.

Niles Chemical Paint Co. officials in Niles, Mich., said the dropped lawsuit vindicates the company.

"The fact that Ms. Tipton dropped this matter without any settlement from us certainly confirms that the allegations in this case were completely groundless," said M. Sherman Drew, general counsel for the company.

A federal health study last year concluded that hundreds of female Forest Service employees who worked with herbicides or special paint to mark trees for logging were at an increased risk of miscarriage. But the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health study stopped short of blaming the paint for miscarriages or other health problems.

Tipton, a timber sale officer at Wallowa Whitman National Forest, filed the federal lawsuit last year in Tacoma, Wash., seeking millions of dollars in damages.

A Forest Service spokesman declined to comment on the case. Calls to Tipton's home were unanswered.

Copyright 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.