[CPEO-BIF] Fort Smith (Arkansas) settlement - property values impacted by Whirlpool TCE

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Whirlpool, property owners reach agreement in pollution lawsuit

by Ryan Saylor
Fort Smith City Wire (AR)
July 3, 2014


Whirlpool announced Thursday (July 3) a settlement with south Fort  
Smith property owners in a class action lawsuit the owners filed  
after the company had disclosed that potentially cancer-causing  
trichloroethylene (TCE) had leaked into the groundwater and spread to  
the affected properties. TCE was used as part of a degreasing agent  
at the former Whirlpool facility until the 1980s, when its use was  
discontinued by the company.

A series of lawsuits were filed against the company in May 2013, with  
attorney Ross Noland of Little Rock-based McMath Woods Law Firm  
saying the suits were primarily focused on property damages, not  
health-related claims.

"There are some other elements of damage, but the primary is property  
damage and the reduction of value in the property," he said at the time.

Sebastian County Assessor Becky Yandell was responsible for dropping  
property values by an average of 41.2% in the area. She said her  
office had researched other TCE spills and the impact the spills have  
had on property values to come up with their total reductions in value.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.thecitywire.com/node/33733

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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