Long-expected lawsuits were filed Thursday by 17 county employees who claim their health has been affected by something in the air inside the year- old $53 million Du Page courthouse in Wheaton.
One suit asks for an order directing the county to close the building until the air quality is improved. The other seeks damages of at least $15,000 for each of the 17 plaintiffs from the architects and the builders of the courthouse.
The suits were filed a little more than a week after Du Page County Sheriff Richard Doria called on the County Board to close the building until the air quality problems were corrected.
Many of the more than 600 county employees working in the courthouse have been complaining almost since the day the four-story building opened last summer. Headaches, difficulty in breathing, watery eyes and lethargy were among the reported symptoms.
Since county offices moved to the new building at 505 N. County Farm Rd. a year ago, air-quality-related illnesses have nearly doubled the rate of absenteeism among the 180 employees of the court clerk`s office, according to Joel Kagann, head of the office.
As of this week, about 10 employees of various departments have been reassigned to duties outside the building or are staying home on doctor`s orders because of adverse health effects blamed on the building.
A consultant has linked the situation to a combination of reactions and chemicals in the rugs, walls and furniture, as well as cleaning agents that were spread throughout the building after a March episode when an outbreak of symptoms sent 20 people to hospitals.
The suits were filed by attorneys Terry Ekl, Michael Cetina and Patrick J. Williams, of Clarendon Hills. They claim the building`s ventilation system is inadequate to exhaust the fumes from the chemicals inside.
Ekl and Williams, who specialize respectively in criminal defense and commercial litigation, are law partners. Cetina is an associate in their firm who specializes in personal injury cases.
Ekl said Thursday he would not seek a hearing for at least a week on the suit that seeks an injunction to close the building.
”We are willing to work with the county toward a resolution of this. If they are making some type of progress, then we will not pursue the injunction,” Ekl said.
The 17 plaintiffs include clerks, bailiffs, judges` secretaries and court reporters.
The defendants are the two architectural firms that designed the courthouse, Wight & Co. of Downers Grove, and Helmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc. of St. Louis, and the general contractor who built it, J.A. Jones Construction Co. of Charlotte, N.C.
A spokesman for Wight & Co. said the firm`s president, Robert Wight, was the only person there who could comment on the suit, but he was unavailable Thursday.
Ede Graves, a spokeswoman for J.A. Jones, said the company would not comment on the suit itself, but she added: ”We built the courthouse according to the specifications of the architect, with materials approved by the architect and the customer. . . . Some of our people attended meetings (in the courthouse last spring) but it was our understanding that the problem was with the furniture.”
A spokeswoman for Helmuth, Obata and Kassabaum said the courthouse ventilation system was designed in 1987 to bring in 15 cubic feet of outside air per minute per occupant, more than double the standard recognized at that time. She said Wight & Co. architects have been working with the county to increase the ventilation to 20 cubic feet per person.
The damage suit was assigned to Circuit Judge William E. Black, presiding judge of the court`s Law Division. However, he said Thursday that he wouldn`t hear the case because of the possible perception of a conflict of interest. He said the county`s chief judge, Anthony M. Peccarelli, was preparing to ask the Illinois Supreme Court to appoint a judge from outside the county to preside over the case.
Kagann, meanwhile, said Thursday he has already obtained $70,000 and will ask for $32,000 more from the County Board for temporary help to replace sick employees.
He said his office recorded about 1,880 lost person-days between Sept. 2, 1991, when the clerk officially moved into the new courthouse, and July 15, 1992. During the same period the year earlier his office recorded 1,042 lost days, Kagann said.
Most of the Du Page County state`s attorney`s 150 employees are based in the courthouse. One assistant state`s attorney who suffers from building-related symptoms has been allowed to spend her workday outside the office, and one support person has been ordered to stay out of the office for two weeks, said State`s Atty. James E. Ryan.
One employee of the Du Page County public defender also has been assigned to duties outside the courthouse.
