Texaco Settling Claims for $100 in Refinery Blast : Wilmington: Payments are being made in exchange for signed promises that residents will not sue the company if they or their children become ill.

Texaco Inc., moving to head off claims filed in connection with an explosion at its Wilmington refinery, is reaching settlements with hundreds of residents in return for signed promises not to sue the company if they or their children become ill in the future.

The settlement payments are being made by Texaco’s insurance carrier, CIGNA, and are issued for each release signed. Texaco declined to disclose the amount of the average settlement, but several residents said they had been paid $100 per family member for each signed release.

Some residents complain the company is taking advantage of the relatively poor population living near the Wilmington refinery, many of whom speak only Spanish and may not be aware of what health hazards they may have been exposed to during the explosion.

The suggestion exasperates Texaco officials, who say the settlements are a routine and legitimate way of ending claims filed against a business.

Of property damage claims related to the Oct. 8 explosion, 4,660 were filed against Texaco. To date, 4,605 have been settled, company officials said. Senior Texaco attorney Les Randall said the company had also settled 1,076 bodily injury claims, but declined to say how many had been filed because the company is still negotiating with other residents.

“We reached agreements with individual parties, and those releases were only sent out after agreement has been reached to settle the case,” Randall said. “These weren’t just sent out blindly but after much discussion between that person and the CIGNA people.”

Texaco spokeswoman Barbara Kornyllo said that, months after the blast, no toxic substances remain in the air as a result of the explosion.

“Even the L.A. County Department of Health has stated that there is no reason to expect long-term effects,” Kornyllo said. “We tried to address that again and again after the incident.”

Officials investigating the explosion concluded that a worn pipe helped trigger the blast near a hydrogen processing unit at the refinery the night of Oct. 8. Fire from the explosion lit up the sky in a blaze that burned for 36 hours and required 200 firefighters to extinguish. No one was killed, but 16 workers were injured and about 500 people living within a one-mile radius of the plant were evacuated to shelters.

“We have tried to talk very openly with the community about the incident,” Kornyllo said. “I think our refinery number has been published all over the place. We have people who speak Spanish, we have formed a community advisory committee, we want to know the community’s concerns because they are our concerns.”

After the incident, hundreds of Wilmington residents attended community meetings to discuss the accident and compare symptoms of illnesses they believed were brought on by the blast.

Some residents say they are suspicious because Texaco is asking to be shielded from future responsibility while maintaining there is nothing to worry about.

“What are they trying to hide?” said Wilmington resident Tito Lugo, a contract administrator whose windows on his Watson Street home were blown out during the blast. “That’s what I want to know.”

Lugo is part of the class-action suit that Long Beach attorney Iva Sareen is preparing on behalf of 1,500 residents against Texaco. He learned of the settlements last week when Enrique Martinez, a plumber who lives on Colon Street, asked him to notarize his signature on three forms releasing Texaco from any responsibility for health problems in three of his seven children.

Martinez already had turned in notarized releases for his other four children and had been paid $400 for them, he said.

“People started coming to me wanting me to notarize their signa tures, and I asked them if they understood what they were signing, that they were signing away all their rights, and they said no,” Lugo said. “They just understood that they didn’t feel well and that Texaco would give them $100.”

The forms, which are written in English, include a clause that states: “In executing this release, I have relied on the advice of my attorney. I have had the terms of this release explained to me by my attorney, and I fully understand the terms of the release. My execution of this release is free and voluntary.”

Randall said Texaco realized its error in sending out forms only in English some weeks ago and has since sent out ones with a Spanish translation. Alarmed, Lugo spread the word that he was holding a community meeting at Holy Family Church Wednesday night.

“I’m not a doctor or a toxicologist, but illnesses take a child much differently than an adult. They can go three, four or five years before an illness can be detected,” he told about 40 people.

“What we need is something that in three, four or five years will protect us,” Lugo said. “If one of my kids comes down with something, I want to make sure it’s an open issue.

“There is such a silence in the community! How many people have signed these documents?” he asked. No one answered him.

Martinez, who lives close to the refinery, barely speaks English and said he now regrets having signed the releases, which were written in English. He never received Spanish forms and never consulted an attorney, he said.

Speaking in Spanish before the group at Holy Family Church Wednesday night, Martinez explained why he signed the releases even though he did not understand them.

“I have eight children to look out for,” Martinez said, facing the audience. “I felt fine before the explosion, but since then, I’ve been unable to sleep. My children have been unable to sleep and they are very nervous.

“I didn’t know I was signing away things for the future,” he said. “No one translated for me, but I understood I’d get $100. That’s a lot of money.”