Erin Brockovich team to sue Birds Eye Foods in Fennville

Wed, Jul 1, 2009    to del.icio.us

FENNVILLE — Erin Brockovich didn't make it back to Fennville as planned Tuesday, but her work on water contamination is moving forward.

The environmentalist's legal team said it plans to file a lawsuit to recover damages from Birds Eye.

The lawsuit is not a class action suit. It will be the second suit filed against the company.

"Everyone has had a different impact — that will all be considered on an individual basis," said William Stapleton, an attorney with Hooper, Hathaway, Price, Beuche & Wallace of Ann Arbor; and part of Brockovich's legal team.

Representatives from Weitz & Luxenberg of New York, also part of the legal team, passed out forms to about 100 people in the audience at Fennville High School so they could join the potential lawsuit.

There is no date set for filing the suit in federal court in Grand Rapids, Stapleton said.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says Birds Eye Foods is the source of elevated arsenic, iron and manganese levels in the well water of homes east of Fennville.

The company has denied it is the source and is supplying affected residents with bottled drinking water.

Birds Eye spreads remains from fruit and vegetable processing onto fields near the impacted homes. The DEQ said the wastewater has set off a chemical reaction in the wells where the contaminants deplete oxygen in well water, which leads other elements — including arsenic, manganese and iron — to replace the depleted oxygen.

Another group of residents represented by Fixel Law Offices of Grand Rapids has filed a federal lawsuit against Birds Eye.

Brockovich was scheduled to speak in Fennville on Tuesday, but she was ill and could not attend the public meeting.

"She apologizes and wishes she could be here," said Robert Bowcock, an adviser to Brockovich. "She will be back."

Bowcock said that a lawsuit will allow independent gathering of information and give people a stronger voice.

"Until I represent you, I'm just somebody calling," Bowcock said. "As this becomes an organized group, we're going to have more data."

Even if people do not join a lawsuit, they do have rights, said Robin Greenwald of Weitz & Luxenberg.

"Never forget that you're still citizens and still have rights," she said.

Residents can ask questions from the DEQ and write letters to state and federal representatives to complain about the contamination.

"You never lose that right," Greenwald said.

Brockovich was last in Fennville at a town hall meeting April 21. More than 300 people attended that meeting where the environmentalist and her advisers collected information from residents.

Brockovich was involved with a lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in California involving contaminated drinking water. The case was settled in 1993 for $333 million.

Brockovich and the Pacific Gas lawsuit were the focus of a movie in 2000 starring Julia Roberts.