CHARLESTON — A federal judge has set a schedule for several lawsuits that were combined involving Union Carbide.
A motion was filed earlier that requested a three-month extension of the schedule in the four cases. Federal Judge John Copenhaver Jr. agreed to slightly alter the schedule.
The cases are now scheduled for trial on June 28, a final settlement conference is scheduled for June 27 and a pretrial conference is scheduled for June 3.
Michael Callaghan
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"With the exception of the above modifications, the requirements and directives set forth in the parties’ stipulation and agreed order regarding consolidation of scheduling in Courtland III and Courtland IV shall remain in full force and effect," the order states.
Courtland Company has filed several lawsuits against Union Carbide for running a secret landfill on its property that caused pollution into waterways.
Whether intentionally or through wanton, willful and callous indifference, Union Carbide has caused and is continuing to cause the unpermitted discharge of toxic, noxious, harmful and hazardous pollutants into navigable waters in the state and country, according to the suit.
"Such unpermitted discharges of pollutants have occurred at and from a parcel of land owned and operated by defendant...beginning no later than the 1950s, which parcel lies both east and north of property owned by the Plaintiff in South Charleston..." the complaint states.
The plaintiff wants the defendant to answer for its violations of the Clean Water Act, according to the suit.
The lawsuit claims Union Carbide's Filmont Waste Disposal facility, which is on a nearly 31-acre parcel of land that also houses the Massey Rail Yard.
The landfill was previously undisclosed. Courtland alleges that the landfill violates the Clean Water Act. Since 2001, Courtland has owned the land adjacent to the landfill and discovered the presence of the landfill in 2019.
In 2020, Dr. David Scott Simonton traveled by kayak on West Virginia waters on Sept. 11 and 12 and observed orange sludge below the waterline that he said appeared to consist of fairly thick deposits of iron hydroxide/oxyhydroxides. In December 2019, Courtland sued Union Carbide, alleging it was leaking harmful pollutants into Davis Creek.
In the complaint, Courtland claims it didn't even know the Filmont Landfill existed until a deposition testimony was taken in a related lawsuit that Courtland had filed against Union Carbide in 2018 for pollutants from the Union Carbide Tech Center that is near Courtland's property. The information regarding the Filmont Landfill was unearthed during depositions for that lawsuit.
Courtland is seeking a permanent injunction and civil penalties. It is represented by Michael O. Callaghan of Neely & Callaghan in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:21-cv-00487
