By Laurie Fox, March 25, 1999

Texas Instruments agreed to pay a $7 million settlement Wednesday in a dispute with a Dallas automobile dealer over environmental damage - moments before a jury leveled a judgment against TI for three times as much.

Eagle Lincoln-Mercury Inc. and Three Birds Property Co. brought the suit against TI and Raytheon. The suit charged that TI negligently allowed toxic chemicals from its manufacturing of electronic components to seep into soil and groundwater at its original site on Lemmon Avenue near Inwood Road.

Raytheon now owns the site and the automotive company operates a body shop on land adjacent to it.

Despite a $23.3 million verdict in favor of Eagle, both sides said they will honor the settlement, which was reached at the George L. Allen Sr. Courts Building as the jury returned with a verdict.

As part of the settlement, Texas Instruments and Raytheon agreed to buy the Eagle property and pay for its cleanup.

"This is a very important case because it marks the first litigation against TI for contamination of that site," said Mark S. Werbner, the lead attorney for Eagle.

The Lemmon Avenue site was TI's first manufacturing location before it moved in the 1950s. The lawsuit charged that TI knew about the contamination but concealed it from surrounding property owners and misled the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission about the extent of the damage.

Gail Chandler, a spokeswoman for TI, said that while TI and Raytheon acknowledged environmental concerns at their site, most of the harm to the Eagle site was caused by other businesses. She said the settlement was not an admission that TI created the problem for Eagle.

Ms. Chandler said that TI has always had an excellent environmental record with the conservation commission and that there was no attempt to mislead anyone.

1999 The Dallas Morning News All Rights Reserved

[Sayles, Lidji & Werbner represented Three Birds Property Co. in this lawsuit.]