Environmental

Fort Lauderdale Lincoln Park Incinerator Settlement

The City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida is settling two class actions centering three properties it owns, (1) the site of the former Lincoln Park incinerator, (2) the former Lincoln Park Elementary School, and (3) Lincoln Park. Parts of the properties may have been contaminated with dumps and storage of ash from the incinerator, which was  Read more

Royal Oak Barbecue Charcoal Briquets Misleading Claims Class Action

Royal Oak Enterprises, LLC makes charcoal for home barbecuing. The complaint for this class action takes issue with claims the company makes for its charcoal, including that it is made entirely from hardwood and that it is somehow “cleaner” than other charcoal products.  Read more

Protein Solutions Noxious Odor Settlement

Protein Solutions, LLC (now called LinkOne Protein, LLC) is paying a little short of a million dollars to settle a class action about its industrial protein processing plant in Joplin, Missouri. According to the complaint, the plant emitted bad odors into the surrounding areas because of the conduct of Protein Solutions.  Read more

Sterilization Companies Ethylene Oxide Emissions Illinois Class Action

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is a carcinogen, says the complaint for this class action. It brings suit against three manufacturing and sterilization facilities in Willowbrook, Illinois, alleging that they emitted EtO into the atmosphere, “in both controlled and uncontrolled releases” over several decades.  Read more

Former Ametek Facility El Cajon Contamination Settlement

This settlement resolves two of four class actions concerning contamination of land in El Cajon, California. The first class action, against Ametek, Inc., Thomas Deeney, and Senior Operations, LLC, concerned the fact that Amatek had a facility on the site between 1968 and 1988, including a storage tank for manufacturing materials. The complaint alleged that  Read more

Union Carbide West Virginia Facility Ethylene Oxide Emissions Class Action

Union Carbide Corporation has a manufacturing facility in South Charleston, West Virginia that makes ethylene oxide for industrial purposes. The complaint for this class action calls the chemical “a powerful cancer-causing gas,” and alleges that the facility has been emitting it into the surrounding areas, “in both controlled and uncontrolled releases” for decades, thus raising  Read more

DuPont, 3M, Others Contaminated Water in Blades, Delaware Class Action

A number of class actions in recent years have address the poisoning of water sources by PFOA and PFOS chemicals used in firefighting foam at military bases. This case is similar, except that the chemicals come from manufacturing sources. The town is Blades, Delaware, and the companies named as defendants are E. I. DuPont de  Read more

Florida Sugar Growers Pre-Harvest Burning Pollution Class Action

Sugar causes pollution—or at least the production of sugar does. That’s the contention of this class action, which alleges that sugar cane growers south of Lake Okeechobee in Florida pollute the air with their agricultural activities.  Read more

Wolverine, 3M Toxic Chemicals in Water Supply Michigan Class Action

This class action is about the poisoning of drinking water due to the disposal of tannery and other waste, but it resembles recent cases about the effects of firefighting foams. Both substances have connections to the 3M Company; in this case, two other defendants are Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. and its agent Waste Management, Inc. of  Read more

3M Whidbey Island Firefighting Foam and Water Contamination Class Action

This class action is one of several now pending concerning toxic firefighting chemicals that have found their way into community water supplies. In this case as in others, the defendants are the makers of the foam: 3M Company, Tyco Fire Products, LP, Buckeye Fire Equipment Company, Chemguard, Inc., and National Foam, Inc.  Read more