State Sues Tallmadge Asbestos Company
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has filed a lawsuit accusing a Tallmadge company and its officials of improperly and illegally removing asbestos in Northeast Ohio.
The 10-count suit against Spiker Environmental Inc. also alleges that the six company officials fraudulently transferred, concealed and spent the company's money so that the company is unable to pay the penalties being sought by the state.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court, was assigned to Judge Patricia Cosgrove.
Named as defendants were Samuel A . Keller of Cuyahoga Falls, David J. Keller of Canton and Shirley Mendendall of Sharon Township.
Also named were James Black, Gary Shoemaker and Frank Towns. The only address listed for the three was 1247 Eastwood Ave., the address of now-closed Spiker Environmental.
All six defendants are directors, shareholders and employees of the company, said Michelle Gatchell, a spokeswoman for Petro's office.
The company and the six defendants were cited for improper or illegal asbestos removal at a Louisville church, houses and apartments in Canton, an auto supply shop in Canton and a school in Leetonia in Columbiana County.
The defendants failed to notify the EPA of their asbestos-removal plans and failed to prevent the discharge of asbestos dust, the suit says. They also failed to properly remove or handle the asbestos in some cases, the suit says.
The complaints date to 1999 and 2002, according to the suit.
The defendants attempted "to conceal or deplete the assets of Spiker Environmental from the state of Ohio intentionally in order to thwart the collection of judgment," the suit says.
They did that, the suit says, through "underfunding, commingling funds and/or transferring funds to and from Spiker Environmental."
Petro's office is seeking a court order forcing the defendants to comply with Ohio rules on asbestos removal.
The company and the six defendants each face fines of $25,000 a day for each violation.
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