Wingate Landfill Fight Draws "Civil Action" Attorney

Date: June 6, 2002

Source: News Room

Ford Lauderdale, Fla. residents protesting the tainted Wingate landfill have hired Boston attorney Jan Schlichtmann is best known for his so-called "Civil Action" case, made into a movie about starring John Travolta. There, Schlichtmann sued two large companies for contaminating the water of a Boston neighborhood. At Wingate, from 1954 through 1978, dozens of companies dumped their waste into the landfill. It was then burned and buried. Ever since that activity, a number of resident have become sick, some dying of cancer. Last year more than 50 infants from the area died, a number that many experts say is alarmingly high. Schlichtmann and a team of attorneys are hoping to track down residents who have lived near the landfill for the past 40 years. So far, no scientific study has shown a causal link between the Wingate landfill and the increased rates of cancer and infant death.

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