Toxic Pollution and Hazards
Environmental and Medical Experts Successfully Expose Chemical Polluters
Ever so slowly, toxic chemical pollution ruins our water, land and air. The Environmental Division of Janet, Jenner & Suggs advocates for individuals, communities and governments affected by this type of pollution. Our attorneys and staff have handled cases dealing with environmental hazards and the medical and property damage it causes. Click here to fill out a brief questionnaire if you feel you have been affected by toxic pollution. Our attorneys will review your case and determine if you have a legitimate claim or can become part of a class action.
Linking Toxic Materials to Illness and Disease
Toxic materials—like poisonous gases, chemicals and waste—can be contaminating the ground, water and air for years before residents realize the damage to their health and property. Our environmental experts have been able to identify the causes and the responsible corporations. With our decades of experience in handling cases involving complex medical issues, we are better able to identify current and future health problems that could be caused by these pollutants. A key part in toxic hazard cases is to find as many people as possible who could have been hurt by the pollution so they can be monitored for health risks. Unfortunately, some people move away and never suspect they are at risk of many health problems including:
- Lung cancer
- Leukemia
- Brain damage
- Birth defects
Seeking Compensation for Health and Property Damage
Our skills and expertise at the negotiating table and, particularly, in the courtroom help our clients because we understand the problems they face today and in the future. We know how to effectively tell our clients’ stories to jurors. Juries and courts can then make the final decision and provide the results our clients deserve for health and property damages.
Combining Toxic and Medical Expertise
Bringing their expertise in medical and legal issues to the Toxic Tort Division are Howard Janet, Robert Jenner, and Ken Suggs. Each also has extensive experience in jury trials and obtaining record breaking verdicts or settlements for their clients in medical error cases.
A lead attorney in our Toxic Tort Division is Steve German, who worked with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Enforcement Section and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, New Jersey Superfund Branch. Among his cases were trial and appellate victories (Interfaith Community Organization v. Honeywell International, Inc) in Jersey City, NJ, which resulted in one of the nation’s largest environmental cleanups. One million tons of chromium waste was excavated and removed from contaminated groundwater and sediments in the Hackensack River.
Joel Rubenstein is another attorney in our Toxic Tort Division. He has represented plaintiffs in an environmental class action lawsuit seeking damages on behalf of property owners and individuals who have been exposed to contaminants such as trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride and 1,4-dioxane through groundwater contamination from a Raytheon plant in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Contaminated Ground and Well Water Cases
Chemical Plant Polluting Groundwater for Years in Ohio
Among our current cases is a class action suit for current and past residents of Dayton, Ohio’s McCook Field neighborhood. Groundwater underneath the City’s Behr Dayton Thermal Plant has been contaminated with manufacturing chemicals (trichloroethylene or TCE) for decades. Of the more than 400 homes that have been tested for toxic vapors, over half have tested positive for elevated TCE levels – some as high as 650 times the official “action level.” One school was closed due to contamination. The USEPA has called this area one of the worst hazardous waste sites in the country and has designated it a Superfund site. The case is being handled by My Advocates attorneys Howard Janet, Robert Jenner, Ken Suggs, Steve German and Joel Rubenstein. View the Master Amended Complaint and the Memorandum in Support of Class Certification.
Related News regarding the Class Action Lawsuit:
McCook Field Plaintiffs File Amend Class Action Complaint
McCook Field Lawsuit Proceeds After Chrysler Bankruptcy
Copper Mine Causes Air/Water Pollution in Nevada
Additionally, we are currently fighting for environmental cleanup, medical help, and financial relief for residents of Yerington, Nevada. Waste from the formerly-active Anaconda Copper Mine has polluted the surrounding community’s air and drinking water. The EPA has concluded that uranium from the mine waste has entered the groundwater and travelled offsite. Testing has also revealed that many local residents’ well water is contaminated with levels of arsenic and uranium that are above the EPA standards for drinking water. We have sued Atlantic Richfield Company and British Petroleum for their environmental neglect and cleanup delays, which have resulted in this ongoing contamination of Plaintiffs’ drinking water supply, Plaintiffs’ ongoing exposure to toxic windblown dust, Plaintiffs’ increased risk of serious illnesses and the diminution of Plaintiffs’ property values. View a copy of the Yerington, NV Second Amended Class Action Complaint.
Hexavalent Chromium Waste Sites in Jersey City: Profits over People
Combining our medical and mass tort legal experience, we are fighting for medical help and financial relief for residents of Jersey City, NJ who have been exposed to cancer-causing hexavalent chromium waste. For decades, Honeywell and PPG disposed of more than one million tons of this waste at over one hundred sites across Jersey City. Internal records for the companies show they knew chromium could cause cancer, yet they failed to properly clean-up the sites.
“Health and environmental regulators publicly assured Jersey City residents that the presence of this chromium did not increase their risk of developing cancer. However, a government study revealed they were wrong. Of the residents who were studied, some living closest to the waste sites had up to a 17% higher rate of lung cancer than people residing farther away,” said attorney Howard Janet.
The Class Action Lawsuit Smith, et al., v. Honeywell International, Inc., et al. in Hudson County, NJ. demands that the polluters pay for periodic medical screenings for the early detection of serious illness in exposed populations and pay damages to landowners whose properties have been devalued. Other My Advocates attorneys representing plaintiffs in the case are Robert Jenner, Ken Suggs, Steve German and Joel Rubenstein.
The site is in a densely populated neighborhood and in his ruling on the case Federal District Court Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh said it presented ”a substantial risk of imminent damage to public health and safety and imminent and severe damage to the environment.”
For a copy of the complaint and and federal court rulings that this case ay move forward, go to JerseyCityLawsuit.com
