Whirlpool faces 2 suits by landowners, others

Plaintiff:Taint hurts property values

FORT SMITH - Residents and property owners of the neighborhood north of the closed Whirlpool Corp. plant filed two lawsuits against the company Thursday seeking damages for the groundwater under their properties that is tainted by the hazardous chemical trichloroethylene, one of the landowners said.

Neal Morrison owns a home with his sister Suzanne Holloway at 1409 Jacobs Ave. He said the suits allege that the trichloroethylene contamination has led to the loss of use and enjoyment of their property, discomfort and annoyance, and theloss of peace of mind, among other things.

Morrison and his sister inherited the home from their mother, who died last year, and they were trying to sell it when the pollution was revealed. They took the home off the market shortly after that, he said.

The lawsuits filed in Sebastian County Circuit Court are not seeking to have Whirlpool purchase the properties, he said.

“The suit was over property values and not so much health-related,” Morrison said.

He said one lawsuit was filed by landlords including himself, his sister, TravisWestpfahl, Kralicek Realty and Reith Properties. The other lawsuit was filed on behalf of three residents of the neighborhood, whom he could not identify Thursday.

He referred further comment on the lawsuits to attorneys who filed them, McMath Woods P.A. in Little Rock and Taylor Law Partners LLP in Fayetteville.

Whirlpool Corp.’s Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Jeffrey Noel did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Sebastian County Assessor Becky Yandell earlier this month lowered the assessed values of 75 homes and businesses in the neighborhood because of the contaminated groundwater. In a core area of 50 properties, mostly homes, she lowered the land valuations by 75 percent and the structure valuations by 50 percent.

In an outlying area of 25 properties, she lowered the land valuations by 75 percent and the structure valuations by 25 percent.

Whirlpool officials have said they became aware of the trichloroethylene contamination in the groundwater of the neighborhood just north of the plant in 2001 after discovering it underground on the company property in 1989.

The solvent had been used in the company’s refrigerator manufacturing process from 1967 to 1981 to clean metal parts before assembly.

An attorney representing the company told residents of the neighborhood about the contaminated groundwater in January during a meeting to inform them the company was asking city directors to pass an ordinance banning the drilling of water wells in the neighborhood to restrict contact with the contaminated groundwater.

The city directors rejected that ordinance but passed a resolution calling on Whirlpool and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to work as quickly as possible to clean up the contamination under the neighborhood.

A cleanup plan submitted to the department by Whirlpool last month said it plans to rely on natural decomposition of the chemical in the groundwater under the neighborhood to get rid of the trichloroethylene .-

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 05/24/2013

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