A Los Angeles Police officer is suing Eastman Kodak Co., alleging that he developed a brain tumor after being exposed to chemicals at the LAPD’s former Northeast Division station, previously the site of a Kodak film processing lab.
Luke Butnik and his wife, Maria, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, alleging negligence, strict liability and loss of consortium and seeking unspecified damages.
The officer was exposed to the chemicals through ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact, according to the suit, which says Kodak had an obligation to warn Butnik of the alleged dangerous condition at the building and to take steps to limit the harm to him.
A Kodak representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Butnik joined the LAPD in March 2010 and worked at the old building on San Fernando Road, west of Glassell Park, during parts of 2010, 2011 and 2013- 15, according to his lawsuit. The city acquired the previous facility from Kodak in 1982, the suit states.
“Plaintiffs … believe and thereon allege that the Eastman Kodak Co. building was unsafe for any possible human use or exposure,” the suit says.”Plaintiffs … believe … that (Kodak) attempted to conceal their contamination and hazardous conditions and effects of these hazardous conditions upon any person who entered the building.”
A $22 million replacement Northeast Community Police Station, located in the same block, opened in 2016.
Butnik says he was diagnosed with a brain tumor on his left frontal lobe in March 2015. He did not know of his condition until he suffered multiple seizures, according to his court papers.
Butnik’s attorney, Thomas Wicke, could not be immediately reached for comment on his client’s current condition or whether he is still with the LAPD.
Investigations into hygiene at the old station began after employees complained about odors, chemical stains and reports of cancers among those working there, according to the lawsuit.
Other employees who worked in the old building suffered medical conditions ranging from red itchy patches on their skin to grade 4 brain tumors, the suit states.
City environmental studies have said that while chemical contaminates were found in the soil under and adjacent to the existing administration building, no significant soil contamination was observed.
The station serves the areas of Atwater, Cypress Park, Eagle Rock, East Hollywood, Elysian Park, Elysian Valley, Glassell Park, Griffith Park, Highland Park, Los Feliz, Mount Washington, Silverlake, Griffith Park, Dodger Stadium and the Los Angeles Zoo.
—City News Service