Five property owners have sued the City of West Bend, Wisconsin, for damages suffered as a result of the contamination of their properties by ongoing leaching from the city’s Schuster Drive Landfill. The plaintiffs claimed that the city mishandled toxic waste, clean-up efforts, and concealed that carcinogenic and other contaminants seeped under and onto the plaintiffs and putative class members’ properties.
The Eastern District of Wisconsin civil complaint, filed on Tuesday, alleged that the city operated the unlined landfill from about 1964 through 1984. Wastes, including chlorinated solvents like trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, dichloroethylene, dichloroethane, vinyl chloride, and 1,4 dioxane allegedly leaked from the landfill for decades, yet, the plaintiffs claimed, the city kept this information under wraps until the Fall of 2019.
The landowners argued that the landfill was never equipped to handle the disposal of hazardous substances that were dumped there in “significant quantities.” The plaintiffs asserted that the city’s mismanagement of the landfill poses significant health risks to those living in, on, and around the affected properties, as well as a significant environmental liability to property owners.
The complaint states six tort, property, and state statutory causes of action. The property owners want the city to remediate the harm, and seek compensatory and punitive damages, reimbursement for the medical testing that may be necessary due to the presence of and harm wrought by carcinogenic compounds, reimbursement for lost property value, and their attorneys’ fees and costs, among other requests.
The plaintiffs are represented by Urban & Taylor S.C. and Nidel & Nace, P.L.L.C.
