Arco Accused in Anaheim Couple’s Suit
LOS ANGELES — An Anaheim couple filed a $10-million suit against Atlantic Richfield Co. Thursday, alleging that their baby daughter nearly died from toxic fumes that leaked during replacement of an underground tank at a gas station.
The Superior Court suit filed on behalf of Kim and Beverly Frohling alleged that their 9-month-old daughter, Nicole, suffered seizures Feb. 11, 1987, when fumes from the Sunkist Arco Station at 445 E. Ball Road entered her bedroom in an apartment 100 feet away.
“She had 10 spasms in about a minute,” said the Frohlings’ lawyer, Barry Groveman, former chief environmental prosecutor for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and author of the recently passed Proposition 65 anti-toxics measure. “This was so easily avoidable.”
Groveman said Arco should have warned the public of possible dangers from toxic fumes before repair work began on the tank.
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