Key Points:
- Union Pacific Railroad files motion to dismiss class action lawsuit related to chemical spill.
- Lawsuit seeks damages for loss of property value due to company’s negligence.
- Union Pacific committed to cleaning up site; signed consent order with state in 2002.
Union Pacific Railroad has filed a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit related to the 29th and Grove Chemical Spill near 29th and Grove in Wichita.
The lawsuit filed in October was seeking damages for property owners in an area affected by a chemical spill at a Union Pacific rail yard near 29th and Grove, estimated to have taken place in the 1970s. The suit named two plaintiffs — Faye Black and Jeannine Tolson — But the class-action lawsuit argues it’s filed on behalf of everyone who owns residential property within the area impacted by the spill.
The federal lawsuit sought damages for loss of property value as a result of the company’s negligence. Chemicals from the spill spread south, contaminating groundwater as far as three miles south of the initial spill.
In a statement announcing the motion to dismiss the case, Union Pacific residents said the dismissal does not change the company’s commitment to cleaning up the site.
“We will continue to cooperate with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to investigate and address the spill’s effects,” the statement read. “Union Pacific remains dedicated to working in collaboration with KDHE, the Sedgwick County Health Department, the City of Wichita and community leaders on the cleanup and remediation of the site.”
Union Pacific Railroad signed a consent order with the state of Kansas in 2002 to clean up the contamination but did not admit liability.
The city of Wichita discovered the contamination in 1994. In 1998, the state of Kansas identified the Union Pacific rail yard as the source of contamination and issued a remediation plan.
Residents in the contaminated area only became aware of the continued contamination last year.
Attorneys in the lawsuit said the plaintiffs are concerned about the spill’s impact on people’s home values.
“Who wants to buy a house that is on this plume, when you can buy one three blocks away that goes to the same schools and has the same access to community but doesn’t live on this plume?” said Chris Nidel, a lawyer with the Maryland-based Nidel & Nace firm, which helped file the lawsuit.
