They came with walkers, canes and years of unanswered questions.
Would the lawsuit over toxic groundwater contamination beneath their neighborhood be allowed to move forward as a class action — giving thousands of residents a chance to seek justice together instead of one by one?
That question brought dozens of northeast Wichita residents to the fourth-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren on April 23. Many were seniors who have lived in the neighborhood for decades, filling the benches in the federal courthouse downtown and even spilling into the jury box seats reserved for overflow.
The case was originally filed in October 2023 on behalf of Wichita residents Faye Black and Jeannine Tolson, who say contamination from trichloroethylene, known as TCE, damaged their health, lowered property values and left families living for years without knowing they were above a toxic plume.
Their lead attorney, Chris Nidel of the Maryland environmental law firm Nidel & Nace, along with local counsel, is asking the court to allow the lawsuit to represent not just the two named plaintiffs, but potentially thousands of current and former residents across the affected area.
If Judge Melgren grants class-action status, the case could expand to include roughly 2,800 addresses stretching from 29th and Grove south to Murdock and west to I-135.
To approve class-action status, Melgren must decide whether the case is similar enough across the neighborhood to be handled as one lawsuit instead of hundreds of separate ones. That means determining whether residents share the same core problem — contamination from the same TCE plume, similar health concerns and reduced property values — and whether Black and Tolson fairly represent those shared experiences.
This is often where environmental lawsuits become difficult. Union Pacific argues that each home, property value, health history and level of exposure is different, making a class action unfair. Attorneys for residents argue the contamination came from one source and affected the community in a common way, making one class case the most practical path to justice.
For many residents in court, that possibility matters deeply.
“People just want justice,” said Aujanae Bennett, president of the Northeast Millair Neighborhood Association, who helped organize turnout for the hearing. “We’ve seen our neighbors and family members die of cancer. We live with not knowing if we are already sick or when we may get sick.”
TCE, once widely used as an industrial solvent, is a known carcinogen linked to liver, kidney and pancreatic cancers. Its use is now banned nationwide.
State officials first discovered the contamination in 1994 during a construction project near 21st and Grove. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment traced the source to the rail yard near 29th and Grove, then owned by Union Pacific Railroad.
Residents say many people in the neighborhood did not fully understand the danger until late 2022 and early 2023, when renewed public attention and a KDHE health survey showed liver cancer rates in the area were significantly higher than the rest of Wichita.
The lawsuit originally included claims of negligence, nuisance, trespass and unjust enrichment. However, most of those claims were dismissed because Kansas law limits how long residents have to file them.
One major claim remains: whether Union Pacific violated Kansas law by unlawfully discharging pollutants into the environment.
That surviving claim keeps the lawsuit alive.
The two-day hearing focused heavily on expert testimony and whether the plaintiffs have legal standing to sue Union Pacific, which did not own the property when the original spill occurred but is now responsible for cleanup under KDHE supervision.
Former Wichita City Council member LaVonta Williams attended both days of testimony.
“I was glad to see the judge listen so attentively to both sides,” she said. “I hope he saw how strongly people feel about this.”
If class-action status is approved, the case could move forward on behalf of the broader neighborhood and create a stronger path for residents seeking damages for lost property value and other harm.
If it is denied, the case would likely remain limited to Black and Tolson, leaving others to pursue separate legal action on their own.
Judge Melgren gave attorneys 10 days to submit final arguments, including Union Pacific’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing. He is expected to issue a ruling after reviewing those filings.
For residents who packed the courtroom, the wait continues.
