Judge Returns Two Cases Charging Love Canal’s Recontamination to State Court from Federal Court, Parker Waichman LLP Reports
New York, New York (PRWEB) August 28, 2013 -- Parker Waichman LLP, a national law firm dedicated to protecting the rights of victims injured by toxic exposure, notes that, according to court documents filed on Aug. 22, 2013, in U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, Judge John Curtin returned to state court two cases that allege the recontamination of the notorious Love Canal site in Niagara Falls, New York. The judge concluded that they don’t belong in federal court (Abbo-Bradley v. City of Niagara Falls, Case No.: 13-CV-487; and Pierini v. City of Niagara Falls, Case No.: 13-cv-498). Further, he noted that the claims did not rise to the level of meeting the guidelines of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Judge Curtin issued these orders last week as part of an ongoing dispute over a Niagara Falls neighborhood that, according to allegations in the Complaint, was built on a toxic waste site. Although the area was evacuated and cleaned in the 1970s, residents claim the effort was not successful, according to the Complaint, which alleges that a 2011 excavation of an old sewer pipe caused a new batch of hazardous chemicals to be released.
The notorious Love Canal neighborhood was so well known for the toxic waste on which it was built that in the late 1970s the very name of the town became a national symbol of the dangers of hazardous waste in America, as The Buffalo News reported on Feb. 9, 2013.
About 25 years after the state and federal governments declared Love Canal safe for people to live there – despite the 21,800 tons of toxic waste still buried beneath it – according to the Buffalo News report, three Love Canal families have filed a $113 million state lawsuit (this is the case referred to above as Abbo-Bradley v. City of Niagara Falls, Case No.: 13-CV-487), alleging that the Love Canal chemical landfill is leaking and that the chemicals are making residents of a nearby neighborhood ill.
Local, state and federal officials all declare the new neighborhood safe, the Buffalo News noted; they explain that any poisonous chemicals from Love Canal have been securely sealed and are not spreading. Also, the report added, according to the officials, there is daily monitoring of the 70-acre landfill where the chemicals were buried.
On Sept. 30, 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement on its website reporting that it had removed Love Canal from its national list of Superfund waste sites, declaring that “all cleanup work at the site has been completed.”
Today, “Love Canal is once again a flourishing community. Forty acres are covered by a synthetic liner and clay cap and surrounded by a barrier drainage system. Contamination from the site is also controlled by a leachate collection and treatment facility,” the EPA said on the site, adding that Love Canal will continue to be monitored and “remain eligible for cleanup work in the unlikely event that a change in site conditions should warrant such an action.”
Parker Waichman LLP is currently offering free legal consultations to victims of toxic exposure. If you or a loved one suffered a serious complication or injury after being exposed to some kind of toxic waste, please contact their office by visiting the firm's Environment/Toxic Substances injury page at yourlawyer.com. Free case evaluations are also available by calling 1-800-LAW-INFO (1-800-529-4636).
Contact:
Parker Waichman LLP
Gary Falkowitz, Managing Attorney
1+ (800) LAW-INFO
1+ (800) 529-4636
http://www.yourlawyer.com
Gary Falkowitz, Parker Waichman LLP, http://yourlawyer.com/, +1 (800) 529-4636, [email protected]
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