Imagine this. You find the perfect day care for your child. The teachers are capable and the facilities are fine. End of story? Maybe not.

It turns out the day care facility is on the site of a former thermometer manufacturing facility. They used to use mercury in thermometers -and a lot of it may still be on the property, underneath the day care center.

While news reports recently referred to this scenario, I have no personal knowledge of the facts and don't know what is the true story. The New Jersey Attorney General has stated she will investigate these allegations.

However, one thing that is true is this: many people are buying, leasing or occupying homes and buildings constructed on restored hazardous sites. While buyers of these properties may be able to learn this information, it may also be too difficult to uncover.

And mere occupants of these buildings have little chance of learning about a building's past. For example, how reasonable do you think it is for a parent to inquire as to the environmental history of a building housing a day case center? While this might be a legitimate concern, it does not even cross the mind of most people.

These discoveries are being made throughout the US. Recently about 60 Oregon families learned their homes were built on a former dump site. This is not uncommon. It seems that almost everyday, people find out that their house has a toxic past.

You need to hire a professional to conduct due diligence -- which means asking the right questions, BEFORE you purchase. If you ask the right questions, the hope is, that you will receive the right answers.

What should you do if it turns out that the new home that you've purchased is sitting upon a toxic waste site? Assuming that this is not information that you had available to you before you decided to purchase a house, I suggest the following:

• Consult with legal counsel. Nobody likes to involve attorneys in anything, but this is a big deal. It is a big deal for two reasons. First, because it involves your single largest investment in your life, your home. Also, because the health and well-being of your loved ones is now potentially at risk.
• Consult with your state or local environmental agency. Sometimes there are loans and grants that are available that can help you with either a temporary or permanent solution to this problem.
• Notify your insurance carriers immediately. You may, or may not have coverage for this problem. But if you don't file an insurance claim, you will never have any chance of obtaining coverage.
• Your attorney should start assembling evidence as to whether or not the seller knew, or should have known, about the problem before the property was sold to you. Your attorney should also determine the applicable statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit against the wrongdoers if, in fact, somebody has committed a legal wrong.
• Keep your priorities in order. Yes, you may feel like suing the world and trying to have everybody indicted. But remember that obviously you and your family's health is most important. Do you need to find temporary housing? Do you need to find an alternate supply of water? Are volatile organics seeping through your basement walls? Yes, the legal issues must be dealt with and your rights protected. But first and foremost, make sure that everybody's health is being protected.
• Make sure that the attorney you hire is familiar with prosecuting fraud and misrepresentation cases. Litigation is hard ball, you need a lawyer that gets it.

Finally, don't blame yourself if you have been victimized. You didn't want this to happen. You are, after all, an innocent victim.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.