Dixon Injury Firm’s Environmental Claims Attorneys Help St. Louis, MO Clients Win Cases
One recent study found that pollution killed nine million people in 2015. That means pollution causes about one in six deaths worldwide. Most of these deaths come in rapidly industrializing countries like India, Pakistan, and China, but America still has its share of environmental catastrophes.
Dixon provides a variety of legal services. This includes personal injury, workers compensation, product liability, and other claims. Our St. Louis environmental claims lawyers bring proven legal counsel to clients and their families.
Please contact us for more info and a free consultation from our environmental claims lawyers.
When you open an environmental claims case in St. Louis, it’s crucial to secure legal counsel with experience. Our personal injury and liability attorney make sure clients have the resources they need to win a claim. Here are a few questions to ask St. Louis environmental claims lawyers:
How much will legal representation cost clients? This varies on the environmental claims case and various factors. Dixon utilizes a contingency system, which means our services are free.
How much could I win? Again, this also depends on the case. Dixon Injury Firm’s St. Louis environmental claims lawyers try to win clients medical expenses, personal hardship, and other compensation.
What do I do now? The next step is to contact Dixon for more info and consultation from our environmental claims lawyers.
Sloppy Chemical Handling at Times Beach
To consider the impacts of an environmental disaster, Missourians have to look no further than Times Beach, a ghost town less than 20 miles outside St. Louis. Two thousand people used to live in the town, until it was contaminated in 1983 by a chemical called dioxin. The town sat on the Meramec River and was once a popular summer resort for people in St. Louis that could not afford a more expensive vacation. In the 1960s, a company called the North Eastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company began running a plant that, among other things, produced a powerful chemical called Agent Orange that was used to clear away foliage in the Vietnam War.
Waste dioxins were being destroyed by incineration for most of the Times Beach plant’s operation, but in the early 1970s the plant hired a small local company to find a cheaper way to dispose of the chemical waste. The contractor added the waste to non-hazardous used motor oil and then he would spray the newly-hazardous oil on local farms for dust control.
Soon all the plants and animals on these farms would die, and local families would experience a rash of health issues as well. The town was unaware of the issue, though, and hired the contractor to spray the contaminated oil on all of its roads. It was later found that the chemical company had buried around a hundred barrels of similar waste. Eventually, the entire town had to be shut down and decontaminated. It is now a state park built on top of the cleaned-up ruins of the city, making it a lonely memorial to those impacted when a company irresponsibly handles dangerous chemicals.
Environmental Claims Come in Many Forms
Today, the government strictly regulates hazardous materials and waste disposal. So, hopefully we will not find people absent-mindedly spraying poison on the ground. That said, contaminations still happen. According to the Associated Press, a company called Missouri Green Materials was charged in September 2017 with activity that was uncomfortably similar to the Times Beach case.
The company was allegedly collecting “bead blast” material that was created while removing paint from military bases. It was full of cadmium, chromium, lead and other harmful chemicals that are contained in paint. Nine million pounds of waste were apparently sent to a warehouse and stored without proper precautions instead of being safely disposed of. Just like the Times Beach case, this company was treating very hazardous waste in a casual manner as though it was not hazardous.
In another case, in March 2017, the Worlds of Fun Park in Kansas City, Missouri paid $100,000 to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company was discharging dirty wastewater and stormwater that included chlorine, copper, oil, and grease. Many of these cases are pursued as “class actions,” because such a large group of people are impacted and it would make no sense for the courts to deal with each person individually. Instead, the courts will resolve the case as it relates to representatives of a group and then afterward the same outcome will be applied to everyone else in the group.
More About Environmental Claims Lawyers in St. Louis, MO
Christopher R. Dixon and the Dixon Injury Firm focus on environmental claims and other cases. Recognized by the National Trial Lawyers Association as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer, Chris knows how difficult these cases are for clients. To help lower financial stress, Dixon Injury Firm make it easier by providing a contingency payment system. This enables you to pay fees only if the case is won. Dixon’s legal services are free until then.
Environmental catastrophes can cause a scary amount of uncertainty, so you do not want an inexperienced lawyer to deal with your case. Mr. Dixon has been helping injury victims in St. Louis for years and has recovered more than $50 million for his clients.
The Dixon Injury Firm
9666 Olive Blvd #202,
St. Louis, MO 63132
Phone:(314) 208-2808