The last of two lawsuits filed against the J.H. Baxter company was resolved Friday. No damages were awarded and plaintiffs have no opportunity to refile litigation related to its shuttered Eugene plant.
Judge Mustafa Kasubhai of the U.S. District Court of Oregon granted a motion to dismiss Hart et al v. J.H. Baxter et al with prejudice at the request of the plaintiffs and their attorneys.
The lead plaintiff, Miles Hart, is a former J.H. Baxter maintenance lead who says he was fired in 2014 for being a whistleblower. He said while the company was once a revered name in the wood products industry—creating treated railroad ties and telephone poles since the 1940s—it eventually cut corners and neglected to uphold standard environmental practices, including improper use of retorts to evaporate hazardous wastewater. In its last 20 years of operation, complaints about the Bethel-area plant steadily rose from neighbors.
“That plant was a very, very old plant,” Hart told KLCC. “It had been there a very long time. And so as EPA standards and our understanding of chemicals and treatment and stuff like that improved over time, they never really truly stepped up to the plate to adhere to those standards.”…