FAYETTEVILLE — Fayette County Commission is suing Bayer Cropscience alleging that toxins linger in the environment because of the defendants' actions more than 30 years ago.
Solutia Inc., Pharmacia LLC, Berwind Land Company and Concho Land Company were also named as defendants in the suit.
The commission claims it wants to establish a fund to pay for the costs of protecting and monitoring its citizens who have been exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Minden by the defendants throughout the 1960s and 1970s before PCBs were outlawed in 1979, according to a complaint filed in Fayette Circuit Court.
The PCBs in Minden were discovered in 1984 and the town's population dwindled to approximately 250. The residents of the town have a higher rate of cancer than normal, due to exposure to PCBs, according to the suit.
The commission claims the defendants are liable for the abatement action cost of monitoring the public health as a result of the actual public nuisance in Minden.
The commission is seeking remittance of the abatement action costs, as well as reasonable costs and attorneys' fees. It is represented by Stephen P. New and Amanda J. Taylor of New, Taylor & Associates.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Thomas Ewing.
Fayette Circuit Court case number: 21-C-42
