Defendant in 2007 St. Croix Alumina Suits Claims it’s Too Soon for Trial

In 2007, former employees of a St. Croix bauxite mining company filed suit, claiming they’d been exposed to dangerous dust and may develop cancer or respiratory ailments. On Wednesday, 17 years since the initial suit, attorneys for the current owners of what was once Martin Marietta Alumina told the Virgin Islands Superior Court it was too soon for a trial, according to court records.

Since 2011, more than 37 former employees of Martin Marietta or its related companies have sued for fear of toxic dust exposure. At least 19 of these men and women are now dead, with a child or spouse carrying on the suit in their name. The seemingly simple process can be difficult, according to court records.

In 2008, Gorgonius Jones sued his former employer at the plant where bauxite ore was refined into alumina. Jones died Nov. 9, 2011, at 70 years old. Seven months later, his wife filed a motion to replace him on the suit, but no one notified Lockheed Martin — which by then owned Martin Marietta — until 2015, according to court records. It would take two more years and page after page of legal filings to have her name added to the suit.