The Injury Lawyer Directory Blog

The town of Cameron, Missouri, site of a cluster of brain tumors, has had lawsuits filed on its behalf by attorney Grant L. Davis. This was done after environmental testing performed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources showed the presence of arsenic and lead at the Rockwood Industries plant and at a nearby quarry. Insulation was also found buried in the ground around the plant. However, the EPA states that the chemicals found may not necessarily be the cause of the 68 reported brain tumors, although arsenic can affect the nervous system with toddlers more susceptible than adults.

One of Davis' class-action lawsuits requests medical monitoring and another is for property damage. Davis states that the people responsible for "illegally dumping" the chemicals should come forward to help with the medical monitoring. He also says that the property values in Cameron have been negatively affected due to the health developments around the town. Davis names companies that operated on the sites where the chemicals were found in one of the lawsuits as defendants.

If you or your loved one has developed an illness you believe was caused by environmental poisoning, please contact an attorney with experience in environmental litigation.

The town of Cameron, Missouri, whose population was 8,312 during the last census, has seen a rash of brain tumor diagnoses. More than a dozen people have been diagnosed this year alone. However, there is concern that this number will only go up. This is because no one is sure what is causing the tumors, though there is suspicion.

When the news was first reported in May, many thought that there must be something in the drinking water. They believed it was probably contaminated from the runoff of a nearby hog farm. Then the CDC and state officials began to look at manufacturing in the area, both past and present. Pesticides and chemicals were also looked at. Since May, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has been collecting air, water, and soil samples. They have most recently focused on the soil and groundwater where the Rockwool Insulation Plant used to be. Samples of air and drinking water have come back clean.

Rockwool Insulation, a maker of commercial and residential insulation, was ordered to pay over $400,000 for an OSHA penalty in 1998 and to improve safety and health at plants in Texas and North Carolina. However, the violations were due to employee exposure to carbon monoxide gas and not for potential environmental hazards. An anonymous source in Cameron told officials that hazardous materials were buried at the plant site in the 1990's.

The tumors that are hitting Cameron are benign, but even those can lead to complications that cause death. There are reports of headaches, seizures, and one person has died from a blood clot which lead to a stroke. The blood clot was caused by three surgeries in three weeks to remove a tumor behind the ear, and near the brain stem, of a 44-year-old fourth grade teacher.

It is estimated that 200,000 people are diagnosed with brain tumors every year. Of those, nearly 40,000 are primary brain tumors, or tumors that start in the brain rather than have metastasized there. While doctors claim that there is a possibility that Cameron may be the unlucky location of a "cluster," most residents believe it isn't simply coincidence. They have been encouraged to get MRIs and are anxiously waiting what the Department of Natural Resources will find in the samples taken from the Rockwool Insulation plant. Those samples will be made public in a few weeks.

If you or your loved one believes your illness may be the result of some kind of environmental poisoning, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area to see if you have a claim.

Casilda Shipping of Malta, Genesis Seatrading, Inc. of Greece, and the chief engineer of a cargo ship have been charged with the illegal dumping of oil and other waste into the ocean. Pantelis Thomas is charged with falsifying log books, as well as other charges related to illegal dumping.

According to the indictment filed by the Justice Department and US Coast Guard, when the Rio Gold arrived at the Port of Oakland in May, crew members complained that Thomas ordered them to dump oil and waste from the engine room into the ocean. The legal process of disposing waste involves waiting until the ship is able to unload onshore or burning it aboard the ship. The crew also alleges they were ordered to construct "magic pipes," which bypassed standard procedure and then dump the waste into the ocean. One crew member took a picture of one of the pipes while the ship was headed toward Oakland and turned it over to the Coast Guard.

Thomas is a Greek citizen, and has been barred from leaving the US until this is resolved. At least eight other foreign crew members who were witnesses must also stay in the country.

The Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 made it unlawful for anyone to "dump, or transport for the purpose of dumping, sewage sludge or industrial waste into ocean waters after December 31, 1991." However, there are a number of other laws, both state and federal, in place to prevent this.

There are several risks to the public as a result of ocean dumping:

• Exposure to hazardous or toxic materials that wash up on the beaches
  
• Human consumption of marine organisms contaminated by toxins dumped in the ocean
  
• Occupational injuries as a result of accidents or exposure
  

Radioactive contamination of fish and shellfish poses a worldwide problem due to dumping nuclear waste into the ocean, and this country is no stranger to medical waste periodically washing up on the shore where beachgoers are exposed.

Furthermore, heavy commercial and recreational fishing goes on in many of the areas where ocean dumping occurs. There have been a number of flu-like illnesses as a result of swimming and surfing in areas that are polluted by ocean dumping in California.

If you or a loved one has been sickened or injured due to being exposed to something dumped into the ocean, please contact an injury lawyer with experience in environmental law or toxic tort to see if you have a claim.

Fourteen years ago, Exxon Mobil Corp. was ordered to pay $5 billion in punitive damages for the destruction of beaches and wildlife in Prince William Sound, Alaska. This was then reduced to $2.5 billion in 1994 by a federal appeals court. On Wednesday, June 25^th, this was further reduced to $500 million by the U.S Supreme Court. In a 5-3 decision, Justice David Souter, writing for the court, stated that because the company has already exceeded the $2.5 billion amount in compensation to victims for economic losses, punitive damages have already been paid out. Exxon has asked the high court to throw out the punitive damages claiming it has spent $3.4 billion due to the damages which occurred along 1,200 miles of coast line.

Writing for the dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens stated that it was Congress who chose not to impose restrictions on punitive damages under the circumstances. Also in dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the court was "engaging in lawmaking" with their conclusion. She believes the decision should have been left to Congress. Justice Stephen Breyer agreed with her by opposing a one to one ratio of punitive damages to victim compensation.

Justice Samuel Alito took no part in the decision because he owns Exxon stock.

This decision has left many Alaskans affected and in line for compensation in dismay. Under the original award nearly 33,000 would have collected $75,000 each. Now they stand to gain only $15,000 a person. According to Supreme Court lawyer Jeffrey Fisher, Native Alaskans, landowners, businesses, local governments, and commercial fishermen have had "their lives and livelihood destroyed and haven't received a dime of emotional-distress damages."

Revenue and profit margins of Exxon Mobil have surpassed $330 billion a year for the last several years, and is currently the world's richest corporation whose net income was almost $40 billion last year. As other oil companies, Exxon Mobil is under the threat of investigation for price gouging during a time of record gas prices, as well as for funding global warming skeptics while spending less than a percent on researching alternative energy sources.

While the Exxon Valdez was captained by an alcoholic who had five double vodkas the night of the spill, the fact remains that massive oil tankers continue to dump oil into the oceans, polluting the beaches and killing wildlife, which affects many people's livelihood. Because of this, environmental litigation is sure to have some kind of staying power. However, due to the Supreme Court's ruling, potential punitive damage claims may be significantly reduced.