'METH COPS' LEGAL CASES TRYING TO GET HEALTHY, TOO

Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Sterner ticked off the ailments
he attributes to methamphetamine exposure.

Headaches, joint pain, esophageal problems.

"Let's see. What else," Sterner said.

"Memory loss," replied his lawyer, Susan Black Dunn.

"Oh, yeah."

But science has not yet supported the claims made by police officers
like Sterner. Neither has Utah law.

The Utah Labor Commission this year has dismissed 19 cases filed by
the so-called "Meth Cops" or their survivors seeking workers
compensation benefits. Many of the cases, which were first filed four
years ago, were dismissed at the requests of the officers, who
wanted more time to find evidence that busting meth labs contributed
to their ailments before they refile their claims.

Eight cases remain because a judge says or opposing sides agree there
is enough evidence to proceed. It's far from certain those officers
ultimately will have their claims upheld. Sterner's case is
proceeding, but the case of his deceased wife, Kelly Nye, was dismissed.

Black Dunn said Sterner has better evidence meth contributed to his
aliments, including a doctor willing to testify on his behalf. There
is not yet such documentation or witnesses for Nye.

"It isn't over," Black Dunn said of Nye's and other dismissed cases.
"We're going to keep the fight going."

The Meth Cops are comprised of a few dozen current or former police
officers, like Sterner and Nye, who investigated or dismantled Utah
meth labs beginning in the 1980s and 1990s. They claim the fumes of
cooking methamphetamine, its discarded byproducts or handling the
drug itself caused ailments ranging from cancers, respiratory
impairments, nervous system disorders and trouble sleeping at night.

Some of the cops began filing worker compensation claims against
their employers beginning in 2005. But proof meth caused their
symptoms has been tough to find.

A state-funded study was supposed to determine whether the Labor
Commission should assume meth exposure caused medical problems. The
study, released in 2008, found some suggestions the officers have an
elevated risk of contracting lymphoma, melanoma and colon and rectal
cancers.

But the study also warned: "These conclusions must be viewed
cautiously ... because so few police officers responded to the
study's surveys." So at the moment, the burden of proof remains with
the Meth Cops.

Black Dunn, who represents about half of the dismissed and pending
cases, concedes there is no definitive study linking meth exposure to
the ailments described by her clients. And because every officer has
received individual treatment, no doctors are aware of any clusters,
she said. But Black Dunn feels evidence exists.

Physicians who have treated individual officers will be willing to
testify in their favor, Black Dunn said. The problem is, Black Dunn
said, that means rounding up a doctor for every cop. Scientists in
the occupational health field might also be willing to support the
cops, she said.

"We're trying to forge new territory," Black Dunn said. "We're
blazing the trail."

Nye was a Salt Lake City police officer who for nine months in the
early 1990s was assigned to a narcotics task force. Six months after
leaving that force, while still in her early 30s, Nye needed a
hysterectomy, Sterner said. The doctors were surprised because she
was so young, Sterner said

Eventually, her spleen and gall bladder also were removed and her
liver swelled. She died of kidney failure in 2005 at age 49.

Sterner worked on the same narcotics task force for about two years
in the early 1990s and says he has been exposed to meth elsewhere in
his career. Today he's 57 and serves civil papers for the Salt Lake
County Sheriff's Office.

Sometimes that means serving eviction notices on homes that have had
a meth lab. Sterner said rashes break out on his arms when he walks
inside those houses.

Many cities and counties buy insurance through the Workers
Compensation Fund and it is a party in many of the Labor Commission
cases.

J.D. Ashby, an attorney for Workers Compensation Fund, said his
clients have not yet taken a legal position on the cops' claims, but
he would not be surprised if some of the dismissed cases are filed
again.

"It's just at this point they don't have evidence to survive the
motion to dismiss," Ashby said.

Black Dunn said successful workers compensation cases could mean
$500,000 to $1 million per officer. That would cover lost work hours
and past and future medical expenses.

That's what has got them worried, if something happens down the road,
Black Dunn said.