Staff at Lee County schools can't join a lawsuit filed against the district by nine employees who say they were sickened by exposure to hazardous asbestos, mold and other toxins, a judge has ruled.

Lee County Circuit Judge William C. McIver ruled that they couldn't turn their complaint into a class action lawsuit, barring any of the Lee County School District's more than 10,000 employees from joining in.

In McIver's five-page order, obtained Wednesday, he said each staff member's individual medical problems and exposure to hazardous materials are what drives the lawsuit, not a shared amount of building contamination and health damages.

" ... Not only would each building operated by the School District be different in regard to mold, CO2, and/or asbestos, but each individual school room would be different," he wrote. "Each employee's exposure would be different and distinct from that of another employee."

Lawyers for the staff and School District in November 2004 argued their cases for and against turning the suit into a class action complaint. The nine staffers now will consider whether to appeal and what's next, their attorney, Patrick Geraghty, said Wednesday.

"We got it (Tuesday)," Geraghty said of the ruling. "We're obviously disappointed in the judge's ruling and don't agree with it. We don't know which way we're going to go."

The nine teachers and staff who work in five schools are suing the School District, saying they were sickened from years of exposure to toxic mold, asbestos, mildew, lead paint and carbon dioxide. Their desire to create a class action suit prompted the two-day November hearing. With McIver's ruling, others — who contacted Geraghty — cannot join the suit and must file their own or seek workers' compensation reimbursement for illnesses caused by asbestos, mold and other hazardous substance exposure.

"At most, the School District's failure to solve any internal air quality problem at any school district building would be considered simple negligence," McIver wrote.

School District attorney John Lewis said these employees' claims are workers' compensation matters, not a class action lawsuit.

"That's the exclusive remedy — workers' comp," Lewis said. "Here it's what did each individual person experience. This would be a classroom-to-classroom, individual thing."

Not so, Geraghty argued.

"If the school has mold, you ... it's just not a room, it's a whole building," he said. Since April 2002 they haven't approved anyone for workers' comp claims. There is no real workers' comp remedy for these people."

Lewis said many of the nine employees who filed suit have received workers' compensation benefits, and a few still receive it.

Geraghty said they should know by next week whether they may appeal or request another hearing seeking class action certification.

"What the judge's decision has done is taken away any remedy that teachers and any parents have," he said

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