PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND — A federal class action lawsuit over possibly hazardous conditions at the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse in Springfield was voluntarily withdrawn Tuesday afternoon as parties agreed to merge the federal complaint with a similar lawsuit at the state level.
In a brief Zoom conference, Judge William E. Smith for the U.S. District of Rhode Island agreed to dismiss the federal case to allow it to be combined with lawsuit underway in Worcester Superior Court.
Smith said he had reviewed the superior court lawsuit, and noted similarities with the federal complaint. Combining them seems to make sense, he said.
Attorney Laura D. Mangini of the Springfield firm of Alekman & DiTusa, who is representing plaintiffs in both the federal and superior court cases, said she pitched the idea of combining the two cases “for efficiency reasons.”
The two cases are similar. Each names the same defendants, officials with the Massachusetts Trial Court and the state Division of Capital Asset Management, and each was filed by long-term courthouse personnel.
The superior court case was filed by Hampden County Register of Deeds Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, a former state representative; and former longtime Hampden Bar Association administrator Judith Potter.
The federal case was filed by court officers Richard Budzyna and William Curtis.
On Monday, Worcester Superior Court judge Daniel Wrenn denied an emergency motion to shut the building down because of the mold issue. The suit will continue however.
Judge Smith on Tuesday said he was aware of Wren’s ruling and he was not willing to overturn it and order the building closed.
Mangini said that once Smith made his announcement, the issue of urgency was put on hold and it only made sense to consolidate the two cases.
She said she hopes the combined case will be ready to proceed in one to two months. She said she is hoping to have an independent team review environmental conditions at the courthouse, and that will probably take a few weeks.
Conditions at the courthouse have been an issue for the last several years, and the building has been blamed for a number of illnesses, diseases and even deaths.
Conditions there became a front-burner issue on Aug. 26, when employees discovered alarming amounts of mold in courtrooms, office, employee locker rooms, on law journals, ceilings tiles, clothing and even packs of gum. Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni evacuated his employees and other departments in the courthouse followed.
The Trial Court, which is responsible for courthouses statewide, dispatched environmental consulting firms to inspect the building, clean it, treat areas to eradicate mold and fend off future outbreaks, and perform air and surface analyses. They issued two reports this week and ordered the building reopen on Sept. 9.
Several departments have refused to allow their people to repopulate the building, the Hampden District Attorney, and Registry of Deeds. Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi also announced he will refuse to send inmates to the ground-floor lock-up.
Each department is asking for an independent environmental testing firm to review conditions in the building and make a report.
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Federal lawsuit on Springfield courthouse withdrawn; suit combined with state court case - MassLive.com
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