Davis & Whitlock and Gulf Oil Spill Litigators achieved a $2.7 million dollar settlement for the City of Key West and a $2 million dollar settlement for Keys Energy Services, the electric utility for the Lower Keys, on July 15, 2015. The settlements were part of an $18.7 billion global settlement between BP and federal, state, and local governments, which included civil penalties under the Clean Water Act, natural resource damages, and loss of revenues for state and local governments. The settlements were approved by the City of Key West and Keys Energy on July 14 and July 8, respectively.
Category: Firm News
Extensive PFOA Contamination Discovered around Former Saint-Gobain Manufacturing Plant – North Bennington, Vermont
Davis & Whitlock, together with three Vermont law firms, Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP, Witten, Woolmington, Campbell & Bernal, P.C., and Barr Sternberg Moss Silver & Munson, P.C., are representing North Bennington, Vermont residents who have been impacted by the discovery of widespread perflourooctanoic acid, or PFOA, contamination on their properties around a former manufacturing plant in North Bennington last operated by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics. The State of Vermont has linked the PFOA contamination to a former manufacturing plant, which was operated by ChemFab Corporation from approximately 1970 to 2000, when Saint-Gobain purchased ChemFab and took over manufacturing operations at the plant. To date, over 125 private drinking water wells of local residents have been sampled and found to contain levels of PFOA well in excess of Vermont’s health advisory level of 20 parts per trillion. For over 30 years, the plant was engaged in the manufacture of Teflon coated fiberglass fabrics, and PFOA was a key chemical used in this process. PFOA is toxic to humans, and a probable link between exposure to PFOA and a number of diseases has been established. For more more information, please call us at (828) 622-0044.
Davis & Whitlock Welcomes Attorney Doug Ruley to Firm
Davis & Whitlock, P.C., a nationally-recognized environmental law firm, is excited to announce the addition of attorney Douglas A. (“Doug”) Ruley to the firm in an of counsel capacity. Doug opened the Asheville office of the Southern Environmental Law Center (“SELC”) in 1999. While at SELC, Doug litigated cases involving the forests and biodiversity of the Appalachians, air and water pollution, transportation, and land use, until he received a Fulbright Fellowship to Europe in 2010. From 2012 through 2015, Doug taught at Vermont Law School and was the Director of the law school’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic. Doug graduated from Harvard Law School and UNC-Chapel Hill, and is happy to return to Asheville and join Davis & Whitlock’s environmental mass torts and public interest environmental law practice.
Davis & Whitlock files suit in CSX Train Derailment – Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee
Davis & Whitlock, P.C., together with the Friedman Dazzio firm of Birmingham and three Knoxville and Maryville-based firms, has filed a class action in the U.S. District Court in Knoxville on behalf of people who were evacuated during the CSX train derailment in Maryville, Tennessee, on July 2-3, 2015. The resulting fire and burning of acrylonitrile, a highly toxic and flammable liquid, forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and places of business to escape these noxious fumes, and many were told not to drink their well water due to concerns about contamination. We also represent individuals who suffered injuries from smoke exposure and businesss which were closed as a result of the toxic chemical fire and are accepting additional clients for case evaluation. For more information please contact us at (828) 622-0044.