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Cook v. Rockwell: The Rocky Flats Property Owners’ 27-Year Fight for Accountability
For nearly three decades, thousands of property owners living near the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant pursued one of the longest and most consequential environmental class-action lawsuits in Colorado history. The case, Cook et al. v. Rockwell International Corporation and The Dow Chemical Company, focused on allegations that radioactive materials released from Rocky Flats contaminated surrounding properties, interfered with residents’ use and enjoyment of their land, and reduced property values. The lawsuit ultimately resulted in a $375 million settlement—but only after a four-month trial, two appeals, and more than 26 years of litigation.
How the lawsuit began
Rocky Flats manufactured components for nuclear weapons northwest of Denver from 1952 until plutonium operations ended in 1989. Dow Chemical operated the facility from 1952 through June 1975. Rockwell International operated it from 1975 through the end of 1989.
On June 6, 1989, the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency raided Rocky Flats as part of an investigation into suspected environmental crimes. The following year, nearby property owners filed a civil lawsuit against Dow and Rockwell. The plaintiffs alleged that plutonium and other hazardous substances released from the plant had reached properties in communities east and southeast of the facility. They argued that this contamination constituted a nuisance and trespass, interfered with the use and enjoyment of their property, and caused property values to decline. Dow and Rockwell denied that they had harmed the properties, substantially interfered with their use, or caused a reduction in property values.
Who represented the property owners?
The named class representatives were:
Merilyn Cook
Richard and Sally Bartlett
William and Delores Schierkolk
They brought the case on behalf of a much larger class of people and entities that owned qualifying property near and downwind of Rocky Flats.
The class generally included people and entities that owned an interest in real property inside the court-approved Property Class Area on June 7, 1989, one day after the FBI raid. Certain governmental entities, the defendants, and holders of mortgage or other security interests were excluded. Heirs of qualifying property owners and successors to qualifying entities could also submit claims during the settlement process.
A case that took 15 years to reach a jury
The lawsuit was filed in 1990, but extensive discovery, scientific disputes, legal motions, and procedural complications kept it from reaching a jury for approximately 15 years.
The trial began in 2005 and lasted more than four months. On February 14, 2006, the jury returned a verdict for the property owners. The jury found that plutonium from Rocky Flats had contaminated properties within the class area and that the contamination created a nuisance affecting property owners. The district court approved approximately $177 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages. With prejudgment interest, the judgment entered in 2008 totaled approximately $926 million. The verdict was a major moment for residents who had spent years seeking recognition of contamination beyond the plant boundary.
The first appeal
Dow and Rockwell appealed the judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
In 2010, the appellate court concluded that the jury instructions did not properly explain what the plaintiffs had to prove under the federal Price-Anderson Act. The court vacated the judgment and returned the case to the district court. That decision did not end the litigation. The property owners continued pursuing their Colorado state-law nuisance claim, arguing that the existing jury verdict supported judgment independently of the federal nuclear-incident claim.
The property owners prevail again on appeal
The case returned to the Tenth Circuit. In 2015, a majority of the appellate court ruled that federal law did not prevent the property owners from obtaining judgment on their state-law nuisance claim. The court sent the case back to the district court with instructions to proceed toward judgment on the existing nuisance verdict. The ruling placed the property owners in a strong position after decades of litigation, although additional proceedings and possible Supreme Court review remained.
A $375 million settlement
In May 2016, while petitions asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case were pending, the parties reached a proposed $375 million settlement. The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted final approval on April 28, 2017. Settlement payments were calculated in relation to the assessed value of qualifying property owned within the class area on June 7, 1989. Administrative expenses, litigation costs, attorneys’ fees, and court-approved service awards were deducted before the remaining fund was distributed among approved claimants.
The settlement administrator reports that more than 11,000 claimants participated. Locating eligible owners was complicated because nearly three decades had passed. Some original owners had moved or died, requiring the administrator to locate and verify heirs and legal successors.
What the lawsuit did—and did not—decide
Cook v. Rockwell was principally a property-damage lawsuit. It was not a personal-injury case seeking compensation for cancers or other illnesses among people living near Rocky Flats.
The case addressed:
Plutonium contamination of property
Interference with the use and enjoyment of property
Nuisance claims
Alleged reductions in property value
The responsibility of former plant operators
It did not create a medical-monitoring program, determine individual radiation doses, or compensate residents for specific diseases. That distinction matters. The litigation produced an important legal record concerning environmental releases and off-site property contamination, but it did not resolve the broader questions residents continue to raise about human health.
Why Cook v. Rockwell still matters
The lawsuit demonstrates how difficult it can be for an affected community to obtain recognition and accountability after environmental contamination. Property owners waited more than 26 years for a settlement. They faced extensive scientific disputes, complex federal nuclear law, changing court decisions, and the practical challenge of documenting property ownership decades after the relevant date. The case also highlights a continuing divide in the Rocky Flats story: property owners received compensation through a major environmental settlement, while surrounding communities still do not have a comprehensive medical-monitoring or compensation program for possible health effects. Cook v. Rockwell remains an essential part of Rocky Flats history because it placed community concerns, environmental evidence, and the consequences of nuclear-weapons production into the public court record.
For Rocky Flats Downwinders, preserving this history is part of ensuring that the community’s experiences are not forgotten—and that unanswered health and environmental questions continue to receive public attention.
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