Last week, a federal judge in Spartanburg, South Carolina denied numerous motions to dismiss filed in response to a class action alleging that various industrial entities had contaminated the groundwater in the Cannon’s Campground community from the 1960s to the present. The lawsuit rests primarily upon the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (known as “RCRA”), a federal law that prohibits the contamination of the environment and the creation of substantial risks to public health, as well as common law claims for nuisance and negligence.

Spartanburg Herald on Groundwater Contamination Suit

In January of 2014, attorneys for the proposed class of citizens filed a lengthy complaint of nearly one hundred pages detailing the allegations of environmental contamination and threats to the public health. Had the defendants been successful in their motions, the complaint would have been dismissed in its entirety and the community’s attempt to seek compensation for the damage allegedly caused would have failed. Instead, now the parties likely will move to the “discovery stage” of litigation where the roles of each individual defendant in creating the contamination will be scrutinized closely.

Attorney Graham L. Newman of Chappell Smith and Arden, PA authored the complaint in this case as well as the legal memoranda that successfully turned away the motions to dismiss. Newman’s practice areas focus on complex civil litigation, including class actions and environmental torts such as those alleged in this case.