Modern Erin Brokovich Story -- 11 Families File Suit over Braidwood Nuclear Plant Waste Contamination
Families say plant violated nuclear waste laws and hire Illinois injury lawyers Power Rogers & Smith to represent them.
Braidwood, IL (PRWEB) March 17, 2006 -- Eleven Braidwood families filed a multi-count complaint Tuesday against Exelon Corporation and Commonwealth Edison Corporation related to a series of violations of nuclear waste laws and admitted contaminations of property near the Braidwood nuclear plant in Braidwood, Will County, Illinois. Illinois injury lawyer, Todd A. Smith of Power Rogers & Smith made the filing, Case No. 06 L 172, Tuesday, March 14 at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Illinois.
Reported leaks from the Braidwood nuclear plant of a radioactive substance called tritium into the soil and ground of property surrounding the Braidwood Nuclear Reactor, adjacent to Braidwood, Illinois, were first revealed last November. In addition to leaks identified in 2003, just now being reported by Exelon, three other separate contaminations through leakage of tritium have been identified from 1996, 1998 and 2000.
Erin Brockovich, a formerly unemployed, single mother of three working in a California law firm rose to prominence when she and her firm uncovered property damage caused by Pacific Gas & Electric Company. The company was trying quietly to buy land that was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a deadly toxic waste that the company was improperly and illegally dumping and, in turn, poisoning the residents in the Hinkley, California area. Erin Brokovich’s law firm was subsequently involved in the biggest settlement on record for a civil class action lawsuit. Her story was told in an Oscar winning movie featuring Julia Roberts.
“These 11 families, and others in the area, have worked hard to develop their homes and provide for their families only now to have radioactive contamination do destruction to their significant efforts”, said Todd A. Smith of Power, Rogers and Smith.
The lawsuit filed for the 11 families contains 7 counts, including claims for the creation of a nuisance from the contamination on property, and near their property, for violations of nuclear waste laws and the Illinois Environmental Protection Act, the Illinois Water Pollutant Discharge Act, the Illinois Ground Water Protection Act, and claims for diminution of property. The suit contends that the acknowledged millions of gallons of tritium leakage into the ground jeopardizes the ground water over an extensive area and creates an enormous detrimental stigma for hundreds of citizens in the area.
“Tritium is a radioactive product of the operation of the Braidwood Reactor, and is sent by Exelon through a piping system that passes through adjacent properties, and is discharged by Exelon into the Kankakee River. Over a period of years, multiple leaks from that piping system have occurred resulting in millions of gallons of tritium deposits into the ground resulting in hazardous waste contaminating the ground water”, said Smith.
The families bringing the action citing violations of nuclear waste laws at Braidwood nuclear plant are Michael D. Sheck and Wendy Sheck, James Annis and Christine Annis, Dwayne Bawcum, Terry Chastain and Colleen Chastain, Vincent DeSalvo and Judith DeSalvo, Harold Gonis and Kathleen Gonis, Lowell Lide, Gerry Sikic, Vivian Fisher, Thomas Zimmer and Judith Zimmer and John Zubik.
About Power, Rogers & Smith:
Illinois injury lawyers Power, Rogers & Smith have been fighting and winning the hard fight for more than a quarter of a century. Power, Rogers & Smith has recovered over $1 Billion on behalf of their clients in verdicts and settlements. The law firm has recently been hired by eleven Braidwood families to represent them against Exelon Corporation and Commonwealth Edison Corporation related to a series of violations of nuclear waste laws and admitted contaminations of property near the Braidwood nuclear plant in Braidwood, Will County, Illinois.
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