Feb 26, 2008 10:37 pm US/Eastern
Secrets In The Soil: Judge Keeps Lawsuit Alive
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
A judge refused to throw out a lawsuit filed by residents against the City of Ft. Lauderdale for allegations that the city kept secret the toxins found in their soil, caused by ashes and runoff from an incinerator that operated there decades ago.
Chemical names such as arsenic, lead and dioxin were heard in a courtroom Tuesday, as an attorney representing residents of the Broward neighborhood fought arguments from the city's attorney asking the judge to dismiss the suit.
"My lawsuit is an environmental case," said the attorney representing residents.
The clean-up of yards, and monitoring the health of residents past and present are some of the demands of the suit.
"The medical monitoring, the whole point of that is, and it's every plaintiff, if they have future medical problems that are related to any of the contaminants in the soil, they don't have to die because they can't pay for healthcare," said Attorney.
CBS4's Michele Gillen originally reported in her I-Team investigation, the story of a resident who has been plagued with cancer and who believes the cause of her illness might be the toxic ashes that since the 1920's were dumped in that neighborhood.
But attorneys for the city are saying that, if used properly, the soil is not dangerous.
"They can make us of it for certain purposes; they can grow vegetable. They just have to take certain precautionary measures in order to provide some form of additional safety," said the lawyer representing the city.
The lawsuit may soon name individual names allegedly responsible, including the mayor of Ft. Lauderdale.
