Major Class Action Lawsuit Filed by Residents Against Corporations for Failing to Clean Up Cancer Causing Waste

May 19, 2010 By JDJournal.com   Residents have filed a class action lawsuit in New Jersey State Court, Hudson County against Honeywell International of New Jersey and PPG Industries of Pennsylvania for dumping and failing to clean up cancer-causing hexavalent chromium waste in their neighborhoods.   According to today’s press release at PR Newswire, the defendants disposed of more than one million tons of chromium in Jersey City beginning in the early 1900s. The waste, referred to as chrome ore processing residue, or COPR, is a by-product of defendants’ Jersey City chromium chemical production operations of the last century, and much of it remains today, according to the suit.   According to the same press release, Steven German, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys was quoted as saying: “These companies spread more than a million tons of toxic waste across a densely populated city and allowed it to remain there for years.”   The lawsuit seeks for defendants to pay for periodic screenings for early cancer detection for exposed populations, and to pay damages to landowners whose properties have been devalued.   In addition, the lawsuit seeks punitive damages for defendants’ knowing and deliberate conduct in disposing and failing to properly remediate hexavalent chromium contamination in Jersey City.    The class action, Smith, et al., v. Honeywell International, Inc., et al., generally affects residents and properties at or near various sites identified by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as having been contaminated with chromium waste.