An appeals court ruling has cleared the way for Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan’s legal team to proceed with a lawsuit alleging that the San Jacinto River has been polluted with the dangerous chemical dioxin.
The companies being sued by Ryan had tried to prevent the County Attorney from hiring outside counsel to assist with the lawsuit. However, the First Court of Appeals today rejected the companies’ arguments, ruling that the County had the right to hire the law firm of Connelly Baker Wotring LLP because the County’s lawyers retained ultimate control over the conduct of the case.
“I look forward to vigorously pursuing this threat to human life and our ecological system,” Ryan continued. “The people of Harris County do not think it is acceptable for the culpable companies to wash their hands of their massive dioxin pollution.”
Ryan sued International Paper Company, Waste Management Inc. and Waste Management of Texas in 2011 seeking more than $ 1 billion in civil penalties for the pollution of the San Jacinto River. The County alleges that in the 1960s huge quantities of paper mill waste containing dioxin, the most poisonous chemical made by man, were dumped into pits along the river. The lawsuit claims the companies failed to disclose the abandoned waste for 40 years as it polluted the San Jacinto River and Upper Galveston Bay.
READ MORE: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/bay_area/news/ruling-confirms-county-attorney-ryan-s-dioxin-lawsuit-will-proceed/article_ff5851b9-e8ec-5375-959a-e72c41dd69bd.html
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