Building Contaminants Suit Now a Class Action

A state district court judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit that claims contaminants sickened workers when the Louisiana Department of Revenue was housed for more than 20 years at a former Sears building in Baton Rouge.

Lewis Unglesby, attorney for five named plaintiffs, said he hopes Judge Janice Clark’s ruling will encourage the state and Olshan-WS Associates – which owned the former store on Florida Boulevard and leased it to the revenue department from 1979-2001 – to begin settlement talks with the plaintiffs.

Nearly 300 current and former state employees have filled out forms complaining of health problems allegedly associated with the old building. Several present and former employees testified that their exposure to contaminants resulted in respiratory problems, asthma and allergy-like symptoms such as runny noses, itchy and watery eyes, sneezing, coughing and headaches.