Federal Ash Spill Lawsuit Expands
By Gerri L. Elder
On Dec. 31, attorney
Michael Ritter held a press conference outside his office in Oak Ridge,
Tenn. to discuss a federal lawsuit over an ash spill that occurred on Dec. 22 in
Kingston, Tenn.
Ritter
announced that the $165 million lawsuit is "just the tip of the
iceberg" and that many more plaintiffs could be added to the case against Tennessee Valley Authority and the amount of the claim could rise dramatically. According to The
Oak Ridger, he said that his clients had not yet decided if the case
would become a larger class-action lawsuit.
A six-page
lawsuit was filed in Roane County Circuit Court on behalf of four victims,
the Raymond family. The plaintiffs asked the court to award $15 million in
compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages. The Raymond's
complaint named TVA, its board of directors and certain executives, including
president and chief executive officer Tom Kilgore as defendants.
According to
Ritter and attorney Stephen A. Irving, a litigation team is being assembled for
the Raymond's case. The complaint was the first of what could be many lawsuits
against TVA.
The
Raymond's are owners and developers of a subdivision located relatively close
to and upstream of the ash spill site at the Kingston Fossil Plant. The family
claims that a creek that runs through their property is backing up because of
the spill.
The creek is
allegedly backing up onto the property of Lea Ann Raymond Habib, one of the
plaintiffs, who is currently pregnant. Chris Raymond, also a plaintiff, owns a
home in the development and had 18-month-old twin boys. The family is concerned
about exposure to airborne contaminants once the ash sludge dries.
The personal injury lawsuit claimed that the spill caused the Raymond family to lose income, destroyed
property and property values, and created potential future medical expenses for
the family. They also alleged that the
ash spill likely damaged future property sales and caused them severe mental
anguish and a loss of "the right to enjoy life."
The Raymond
family says that TVA should have known that the retention pond, which held the
1.1 billion gallons of ash contaminate that spilled, was likely to breach or
collapse The ash sludge spilled over
300 acres of land and entered the Emory River.
On Jan. 8, Knoxville
Biz reported Washington, D.C.-based attorney Michael
D. Hausfeld, one of the nation’s leading class action litigators, joined
the case. Hausfeld filed suit requesting
class status for all landowners "who own or owned real property located on the
Emory or Clinch Rivers downstream from the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane
County … beginning on December 22, 2008 and ending on the date of trial who
suffered available damages under Tennessee nuisance law."
The class
action suit notes water tests have revealed elevated levels of contaminants
including arsenic, lead and thallium, and that the 40-acre pond has a history
of leaks and failures. It continues to say that property owners have "been
warned about allowing their children to play outside, not to go outdoors if
they suffer from asthma, not to do heavy exercise outside, all due to the
possibility of breathing the fly ash."
The
Associated Press reported that TVA is also being sued on behalf of more than 40 residents by the
nonprofit Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other nonprofit groups under
the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. These
lawsuits will seek to ensure a proper cleanup of the area is completed.
Environmental
advocate Erin Brockovich and her team, which includes an environmental risk
assessor and a chemical engineer, visited the spill site and met with residents
in their homes on Jan. 8, then did a helicopter flyover and held a large public
meeting on Jan. 9. Brockovich said that
she came to Tennessee at the request of dozens of residents.