Delmarva Now, Olivia Minzola
October 17, 2024
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Perdue AgriBusiness after elevated levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also known as “forever chemicals,” were detected in groundwater around the Perdue AgriBusiness facility at 6906 Zion Church Road in Salisbury, Maryland.
According to Perdue, the elevated levels of PFAS were uncovered from test results as recent as August 2024. Perdue came forward with its findings over two weeks ago, and has since issued letters to all 550+ homeowners in the interest of transparency regarding the ongoing situation.
Now, Baird Mandalas Brockstedt and Federico (BMBF) — a law firm which specializes in environmental and toxic tort cases — is representing affected residents. BMBF’s class action lawsuit was filed on Oct. 11, 2024, through the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
The plantiffs — Rachel M. Chaney, Doug C. Davis, Julie M. Davis, Gary W. Doss and Rebecca R. Doss — all live in the area of the defendant, Perdue Agribusiness.
What damages from Perdue are plaintiffs seeking with this lawsuit?
In filing the lawsuit, an attorney for BMBF said the firm believes clean air and water — in this particular case, clean water for drinking, bathing, cooking, and irrigating vegetables and crops — are fundamental human rights.
“The damages fall into three buckets, if you will,” attorney Chase Brockstedt of BMBF said of the damages or actions the plaintiffs are seeking with this civil action vs. Perdue.
The damages sought, which fall into three categories, are as follows:
- Remediation
- Property damage
- Heath affects
“The first bucket is called remediation. Remediation is intended to identify what the source of the problem is, and force Perdue to fix that problem. So, remediation is about fixing the problem and cleaning up the mess,” Brockstedt said.
“The second bucket of damages is related to the diminution of property values. Folks’ property values are going to be impacted by the presence of forever chemicals in their groundwater. So, creating a pool of money to compensate folks for their loss of property value is also something that’s very important,” he continued.
“The third bucket is related to the injury or health affects that are caused by (the exposure to PFAS),” Brockstedt said. This includes compensation for physical harm and injury, as well as medical monitoring for affected residents going forward, ensuring that each resident gets the care that they need as soon as possible.
BMBF’s attorneys have a history of successful environmental litigation, including the $205 million groundwater contamination settlement for the community of Millsboro, Delaware, against Mountaire chicken processing company and the $103 million air and water pollution settlement for communities in North Carolina and South Carolina against New-Indy paper mill.
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