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.
News
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.
BP Oil Spill Disaster – BP Settlement
(UPDATED JUNE 8, 2015) On December 21, 2012, the Court entered final approval of the Settlement between a large class of Plaintiffs and BP, which includes a claims process for economic and property damages, as well as medical damages. We represent hundreds of clients who have filed for compensation under the Settlement. Davis & Whitlock and the Gulf Oil Spill Litigators have recovered millions of dollars for their clients throughout the Gulf. June 8, 2015, was the final deadline for the filing of new claims in the Settlement. We will continue to work with the Claims Administrator until the last eligible claim is paid. For more information, visit the Gulf Oil Spill Litigators website (GulfOilSpillLitigators.com), call 1-800-419-1808 or 828-622-0044.
On April 20, 2010, a massive offshore oil rig known as the Deepwater Horizon, operated by oil giant BP and owned by Transocean, exploded and caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 workers. Firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard fought for 2 days to contain the fire, but the rig sank on April 22, creating an unstoppable leak of crude that has become the biggest oil disaster the U.S. has ever seen. The gushing leak was not stopped until September 2010 after more than 200 million gallons of oil had contaminated the Gulf, more than 7 times the oil released by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989.
In addition to Louisiana’s fragile wetlands, the beautiful beaches of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle have been fouled by the toxic mess. Fishing was shut down across major portions of the Gulf, and tourism-related businesses were devastated. Oil crept into Mobile Bay, Perdido Bay, and Pensacola Bay, and massive oil slicks were found floating in the middle of the Gulf carried by winds and currents.
Litigation against BP, Transocean, and other defendants was consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans. Over the last five years, Davis & Whitlock, along with other firms involved with the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, has been working on holding BP accountable. We have partnered with law firms in Alabama and Florida to bring claims on behalf of impacted businesses and property owners forming Gulf Oil Spill Litigators, LLC (GulfOilSpillLitigators.com).