There’s good reason. More than 37 properties along Church Road have been contaminated by TCE linked to the former Foster Wheeler Plant in the Crestwood Industrial Park.  TCE is a degreaser and cleaning solvent that has been linked to some forms of cancer and other illnesses.

While I do not currently represent anyone at this site, I do represent hundreds of similarly situated people around the country in various landfill and environmental litigation.

To find out if Simon Passanante can help with an environmental lawsuit, contact Todd Hageman toll free at 1-877-767-3108 or email THageman@simonpassanante.com. For more information, visit our Environmental Practice web page.

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From 1884 through 1980, the Anaconda smelter removed copper from ore mined in nearby Butte. However, it is believed that air pollution caused by the smelter contaminated properties in Black Eagle.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently tested about 100 properties in Black Eagle. They found that about 20 percent of the properties contained levels of arsenic and lead that might be high enough to require some site remediation.

While I do not currently represent anyone in Black Eagle, I do represent hundreds of similarly situated people around the country in various landfill and environmental litigation.

To find out if Simon Passanante can help with an environmental lawsuit, contact Todd Hageman toll free at 1-877-767-3108 or email THageman@simonpassanante.com. For more information, visit our Environmental Practice web page.

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Chromium, a cancer-causing chemical, has been found in the basements of homes and commercial buildings. In 1983, 5,460 pounds of chromium leaked from a storage tank at E.C. Electroplating Inc.

In 1994, EPA groundwater samples revealed 288,000 parts per billion of chromium which is 2,880 times the state’s groundwater standard of 100. Hexavalent chromium tested at 260,000 parts per billion or 2,600 times the groundwater standard. A bedrock sample taken in 2000 revealed 1,500,000 ppb of total chromium and 1,490,000 ppb hexavalent chromium.

The EPA is holding a community meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Garfield Middle School which is located at 175 Lanza Ave, Garfield, NJ 07026.

I do not currently represent anyone affected by this situation.  If you would like to discuss this situation, or any other environmental concern, you can contact Todd Hageman directly at thageman@simonpassanante.com, or call 314-241-2929.
 

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The award is given to attorneys under the age of 40 who have dedicated themselves to the legal profession and merit recognition. A selection committee made up of Missouri Lawyers Weekly editors chose 48 Missouri attorneys for the honor.

Mefford graduated summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 1999. In 2003, she earned her law degree from the Saint Louis University School of Law, graduating cum laude. Mefford practices in the areas of personal injury, product liability and medical malpractice litigation.

In addition to doing trial work in Missouri and Illinois, Mefford has co-authored articles about medical malpractice litigation, anticipated constitutional challenges to tort reform and trial practice.

“In just five short years, Dawn has distinguished herself as a trial lawyer, writer, and active member of the bar, and the award is well deserved,” said Paul J. Passanante, a founding partner of the law firm.

St. Louis-based Simon Passanante, P.C. handles catastrophic injury, mass tort, class action, intellectual property, consumer rights and commercial litigation cases nationwide. For more information, contact Christie Rainey at 314-241-2929 or e-mail crainey@simonpassanante.com.
 
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Media contact: Geri L. Dreiling
Legal Media Matters LLC
314.743.3851 or 314.520.3897
legalmediamatters@sbcglobal.net

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On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives ratified The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. A few days earlier, House and Senate conferees reached a compromise agreement involving the bill’s provisions. The legislation was introduced last November after a series of recalls were announced involving toys containing hazardous levels of lead.

If ratified by the Senate and signed into law by the president, several new consumer safety provisions would go into effect, Consumer Reports.org notes. The new measures include:

• Essentially eliminating lead from toys and all other products for children.
• The toy safety standard will become mandatory and all toys must be tested by an independent laboratory.
• Products for children such as cribs will be subjected to tougher safety standards.
• The CPSC will receive increased funding.
• The amount the CPSC may impose as civil penalties has been significantly increased.
• State Attorney Generals are authorized to enforce product safety laws.
• All-terrain vehicle safety standards will now become mandatory.
• A partial ban on plastic-softening chemicals known as phthalates.
• The new law will also offer greater protections to whistle-blowers

If you have been injured or a loved one has been injured or killed by a dangerous product, contact John G. Simon toll free at 1-877-767-3108.

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In “Neighbors worry about local landfill,” reporter Ed Scannell states that the owner of Cobles Sandrock Construction and Demolition Debris Landfill has asked for permission to increase the size of the landfill from 12 acres to 67 acres. However, many residents hope that the state will deny the request.

Nearby homeowners claim that current landfill does not have a liner that would prevent contaminants from seeping into their well water. As a result, some have stopped drinking well water.

Residents also report seeing dump trucks leaving debris late at night and smelling strange battery-acid-like odors.

While I do not currently represent anyone in North Carolina, I do represent hundreds of similarly situated people around the country in various landfill and other environmental litigation.

To find out if Simon Passanante can help with an environmental lawsuit, contact Todd Hageman toll free at 1-877-767-3108 or email  THageman@simonpassanante.com. For more information, visit our Environmental Practice web page.

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The plant produced charcoal and iron before it closed in 1966. According to “Old Charcoal Plant Blamed for Illness,” it left behind a legacy of underground toxic waste that seeped into the soil and groundwater. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims that “the site does not pose a significant health risk” even though in 1988 it declared the site “an eminent and substantial danger.”  The federal agency cleaned up some of the pollution but newly discovered contamination remains on and around the site. In addition, a plastics recycling company is operating on the property of the former charcoal plant.

Many residents who live near the site are sick.  Bill Goodreau owns 35 acres situated next to the site. Not only is the property impossible to develop due to the contamination, he was diagnosed with toxic metal poisoning in 2006.  His doctor, Dr. William Reid, is convinced his medical problems are due to the contamination.

While I do not currently represent anyone in Tennessee, I do represent hundreds of similarly situated people around the country in various landfill and other environmental litigation.

To find out if Simon Passanante can help with an environmental lawsuit, contact Todd Hageman toll free at 1-877-767-3108 or email THageman@simonpassanante.com. For more information, visit our Environmental Practice web page.

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In “Defective tire valve sparks suit,” reporter Nora Lockwood Tooher writes that up to 36 million of the allegedly defective tire stems were made in China by Shanghai Baolong Automotive Corp. between July 2006 and November 2006.

It is claimed that the allegedly defective tire stem led to the death of Robert Monk. Last November, Monk was driving his 1998 Ford Explorer when the right rear tire failed and led to a rollover crash.

Dill Air Control Products, a U.S. distributor of the tire stem, was named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Dill notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the problem after it was sued. The NHTSA opened up an investigation of the matter on May 15.

In May, Dill issued an advisory bulletin to tire retailers asking them to return all valve stems made in 2006 and to inspect valve stems installed from September 2006 through June 2007. The bulletin warns of surface cracks near the rim hole. The bulletin states:

“High speeds and an unsupportive rim profile allow the rubber valve to flex at a greater angle and may cause these cracks to propagate, leading to a slow leak of air.”

Another U.S. distributor of the tire stems, Tech International, announced a recall of six million valve stems on May 23.

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to trace the tire stems once they leave the distributor’s warehouse.

If you have been injured or a loved on has been injured or killed in an SUV rollover accident, contact John G. Simon toll free at 1-877-767-3108.

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The aggressive underwriting practices, in which insurance companies attempt to limit their actual risk of paying out on insurance policies by insuring only those people that companies contend pose the lowest risk, have already given rise to settlements.  For example, the Automobile Club of Southern California settled a lawsuit in March for $22.5 million to resolve claims that it added a surcharge because consumers didn’t have prior coverage.  In Texas, in 2007, Allstate paid $12 million to settle claims that using credit scores to set insurance rates resulted in discriminatorily high rates for minorities.

At Simon Passanante we are investigating the practices of insurance companies to evaluate whether or not companies in Missouri and Illinois have used criteria that have discriminated on the basis of race or have caused rates to be higher for the poor than for others.   If you believe you have been a victim of these practices, or if you formerly worked at an insurance company, and witnessed this first hand, we would welcome the opportunity to learn more about this situation by talking with you.

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The New Mexico Supreme Court, in a unanimous and straightforward opinion, noted that New Mexico public policy requires that consumers have a remedy for a variety of wrongs, including ones that produce small damages.  The Court noted that class actions are often the only way to bring small damage claims, because, if class actions are not allowed, it would take a “lunatic” to sue for $10 to $20.  The Court held that Dell’s class action wavier would essentially immunize Dell from valid claims. (To read the decision, click here.)

The Court held the entire arbitration clause unconscionable, reasoning that the class action waiver was an essential part of the clause, thereby preventing severability, and permitted the class action claims to proceed in court.  This decision is the latest in a string of cases around the country holding that companies cannot attempt to write-away liability by crafting an arbitration clause that would have the real-world impact of eliminating all claims.

Congratulations to the attorneys who worked on the case, including Paul Bland and Amy Radon of Public Justice.  Public Justice filed an amicus curiae brief in the case that eloquently laid out the plethora of reasons that class action waivers are disfavored and should not be enforced. (To read the brief click here.) 

As the Missouri State Coordinator for Public Justice I find it permissible to brag on the organization.  Public Justice, via Paul Bland and others, has been involved in a number of critical arbitration decisions, including decisions by the California, New Jersey and Washington Supreme Courts.  Public Justice is funded by donors, and with that money, it wages battle against entities that would take away fundamental constitutional rights. (To read more about Public Justice click here.)  If you would like to support Public Justice, whether you are a lawyer or not, please email me by clicking here.

At Simon Passanante, it has been our privilege to join in the effort to fight unconscionable arbitration clauses and other doctrines and ideals that would strip citizens of their rights under the law.  We currently have a case regarding arbitration clauses before the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, in which the trial court held that a prohibition eliminating the class mechanism was unconscionable.  We also recently learned that the Missouri Supreme Court will hear one our cases regarding whether or not companies should be able to keep money illegally obtained from customers if the customers failed to notice the fraudulent charge on their bills until after they paid.  The case may also determine whether a doctrine called the “voluntary payment doctrine” can apply to claims brought under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. 

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