A New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled that defendants in the Kiddie Kollege trial will pay $1.5 million toward neuropsychological medical monitoring for mercury-exposed children at the Franklin Township day care center. After an eleventh-hour Gloucester County settlement, Superior Court Judge James E. Rafferty ruled that Franklin Township and the real estate brokers that acquired the contaminated building and leased it to Kiddie Kollege operators will each bear 35 percent of the liability. The township and the Sulivans — who settled in October with a million dollar payment — will pay more than a half-million dollars into the court-monitored fund.
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Gloucester County will pay 20 percent of the $1.5 million — about $300,000 — and the state will pay a 10 percent share, estimated at $150,000. The children who attended Kiddie Kollege and the adults who worked there were part of the class action law suit that went to trial in October. Only the children will be eligible for medical monitoring. The protocol will not include immunological testing.
Before Rafferty makes the judgement, both the Sullivan and county settlements will go through a fairness hearing which has yet to be set.
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