CHARLESTON – Ten years ago today, about 300,000 residents in nine West Virginia counties began a months-long ordeal triggered by a chemical leak that tainted their water supply.
Stuart Calwell was lead class counsel for the plaintiffs in litigation related to the 2014 water crisis. His West Side law firm, which now is known as Calwell Luce diTrapano, filed a class action lawsuit against Eastman Chemical Co. and West Virginia American Water Company on behalf of individuals and businesses affected by the leak of more than 10,000 gallons of a chemical mixture that included Crude MCHM from a corroded Freedom Industries’ aboveground storage tank into the public water supply system.
The case ultimately was settled for $151 million dollars.
“The chemical leak flowed into the Elk River and downstream to the water company’s intake treatment facility,” Calwell said. “When the water company tells 300,000 people across nine counties that you can only use the water supply to flush your commode and put out fires, your worst fears take over your thought processes.
“How will I feed my children? How will I clean my clothes? How will I go to work? Will I lose wages? How will I afford bottled water – and enough bottled water to last for several days or weeks? Who do I trust? Numerous members of my staff were confronted with these very questions.”
Calwell said those affected were scared and outraged that something like this could happen.
“Our team identified the culpable parties and went after them in court to represent and advocate for those impacted by the crisis to ensure they received justice,” Calwell said. “This case was a prime example of the importance of an independent judiciary where citizens are put on an equal footing with powerful corporate interests to seek redress for the wrongs impacting entire communities.”
Unlike many class action lawsuits, Calwell said these plaintiffs received actual monetary compensation.
He also said it was nice to see communities from around the state and the country reached out to help those in need.
“It’s encouraging to watch truckloads of water arriving from all corners of the country and then watching volunteers distribute it to everyone in need,” Calwell said. “And everyone was in need. There wasn’t a single person or business not in need of access to clean water.
“Listening to the stories of hundreds of our clients and how the crisis affected them is the exact reason we feverishly work to hold corporations accountable for their malfeasance. Our citizens need to know someone is always there for them. It was a high honor to be able to fight for the underdog and represent hundreds of thousands of people and businesses in our region in this case.”
The attorneys who represented the plaintiffs in the 2014 case split $22 million in legal fees.
Soon after the 2014 leak, Calwell’s law firm filed another class action related to a 2015 WVAWC water main explosion in Dunbar. A notice in that case recently was sent to class members providing details about the class action and how class members may participate in the litigation.
And just a few months ago, the firm filed one of four class actions against WVAWC and Mountaineer Gas related to the November natural gas outage on Charleston’s West Side caused by a water main rupture that infiltrated 46 miles of the natural gas lines serving the West Side. Many residents and businesses were without natural gas services for weeks.