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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Cancer Claim Against Nuke Plant Dismissed

CHICAGO (CN) - The parents of a girl who developed brain cancer voluntarily dismissed their claims that her cancer was caused by harmful radiation released by a nearby Exelon nuclear power plant.

In May 2010, Cynthia and Joseph Sauer sued Exelon Corporation and Unitech Services Group, which both operate nuclear facilities in Grundy County, Illinois. Exelon runs the Dresden Generating Station, a 953-acre facility that produces enough electricity more than 1.5 million homes, according to its website.

Three years after the family moved to Grundy County, the Sauer's daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, a highly malignant brain tumor.

The parents claimed that radioactive discharges from the plants traveled through the groundwater to cause Sarah's cancer. In August 2011, the court compelled Exelon to produce historical data regarding radioactive discharges going back to the 1990s.

Last week, the Sauers filed a notice of voluntary dismissal signed by attorneys from all parties dismissing their individual claims with prejudice.

However, U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen granted the plaintiffs' motion for conditional dismissal without prejudice on all claims brought on behalf of Sarah Sauer.

The parties agreed that if Sarah or anyone acting on her behalf files a new action, it must be filed in the same venue before Sarah's 20th birthday, October 26, 2013.

In addition, "any new action shall be specifically limited to an alleged exposure to radionuclides," the judge said, and the parties' procedural position will apply to the potential new action so that the discovery schedule will not be expanded.

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