Del. law firm warns Mountaire about potential lawsuit
A potential lawsuit could soon be hanging over Mountaire.
Just last week Jacobs & Crumplar, a Wilmington based law firm sent a warning to the chicken company.
"The notice is an announcement of a pending citizen lawsuit if mountaire does not correct the problem," says Tom Crumplar.
The firm claims the Mountaire Millsboro plant knowingly sprayed contaminated wastewater that was above the legal permitted levels of nitrate, causing water to be polluted in Millsboro.
"My clients, some of them have very serious health problems. There has been birth defects that we are looking into, whether or not there is a connection between their exposure to Mountaire's pollution. As well as a significant decrease of their property values," says Crumplar.
The notice gives the chicken company 90 days to change its wastewater practices. If they don't, a lawsuit will be filed.
"The lawsuit will have 2 parts, one part is the citizen lawsuit, seeking to enforce federal law. The other part will be a state law damage claim ," says Crumplar.
Mountaire officials say they are aware of the pending lawsuit, but are limited on what they can say due to potential litigation.
One thing they made clear is they believe last year's wastewater treatment upset is not responsible for the high nitrate levels, which is something that Mountaire's attorney explained to 47 ABC earlier this year.
"We know and feel very confident in saying the upset condition that occurred in the fields. The spray fields at mountaire had absolutely nothing to do with elevates nitrate levels in those wells that were somewhat distant. The reason we say that is two fold. The groundwater travels very slowly, it travels 50 to 100 feet a year," says Michael Parkowski, the attorney for Mountaire.
Mountaire also tells 47 ABC they are working on a $35 million project to upgrade their wastewater treatment facility.
There is also a second law firm in Delaware that is looking to file suit against Mountaire.
Chase Brockstedt, an attorney out of Lewes tells us they are working on drafting a lawsuit. Brockstedt says they are wrapping up well testing and gathering experts to testify. The firm expects to file suit by the end of this month.
