10/18/2010
Gloucester Country – The case of Kiddie Kollege Day Care has begun with lawyers for the government and the children sparring as to whether the government should be held legally responsible for what happened in the day care center.
The Kiddie Kollege Day Care was closed in July 2006 by state inspectors due to the presence of hazardous mercury vapors after starting its operation in January 2004. Nearly one hundred children, including babies breathed in these vapors during the time that it was in operation.
In a class action suit, lawyers representing the children and the babies who attended the day care center said that the local and state government failed to protect the public’s health and safety, and therefore must be held accountable.
James Pettit, one of the lawyers for the children said that the toxin can attack the immune and neurological systems and it stays in the brain for a long time. He said that parties involved in the said case including day-care operators, building owners, government agencies, and others must pay for a long term medical monitoring on the children and babies exposed to the toxin.
Lawyers defending the town and the state argued that holding the government responsible for every harm will be stifling the ability of the government to function.
The place where the day care center opened was a former thermometer factory and was among the 20,000 contaminated sites being monitored by the state.
None of the parents of the children who attended Kiddie Kollege reported serious neurological or kidney complications, but they have notices seizures, rashes, and attention deficit disorder which may or may not be linked to the toxins at the day care center.
James E. Rafferty Jr., Superior Court Judge, cleared his calendar for the Kiddie Kollege trial, giving it between one to two months.
