Jury Awards $17 Million To Family Affected By Landfill

Date: February 27, 2003

Source: News Room

A jury has awarded a San Antonio family $17 million after the panel concluded that a now 8-year-old girl developed leukemia due to toxic chemicals from a city landfill. According to the lawsuit, toxic chemicals escaped from the West Avenue Landfill and poisoned Sarah Pollock. The landfill was located behind the Pollock's backyard. The jury found that the city failed to replace an often-broken gas collection system at the landfill. An attorney for the Pollocks presented evidence that the highest concentrations of toxic gas, including benzene, were found directly behind the Pollock home. But city attorneys argued that nothing from the landfill, which has since been capped, caused the leukemia.

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