Personal Injury Law

Crestwood, Ill. Residents Need an Erin Brockovich to Fight for Their Rights

By mbrickley

According to a Chicago Tribune article, city officials in Crestwood, Ill. have been lying to residents and the EPA about the town’s water source.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against the village of Crestwood, which alleges that the village has lied more than 120 times to the state EPA about the source of water. The village has claimed that all the water being used comes directly from Lake Michigan - when in fact the water has been coming from a contaminated well containing cancer-causing chemicals.

Sounds a little bit similar to the situation Erin Brockovich handled in Hinkley, Calif. back in the late 1990s.

Crestwood mayor, Robert Stranczek, his father and former town mayor Chester, and Crestwood’s certified water operator, Frank Scaccia could be facing millions of dollars worth of fines if a Cook County Circuit Court agrees with Madigan’s allegations, the Tribune reported.

These three city officials have been lying to state officials and Crestwood residents about the village’s water source for more than 20 years - and Madigan now wants to see them held accountable for their actions, and use this as an example so nothing like this happens in Illinois again.

Hopefully her tactics work - the residents have been drinking water from a contaminated well - and not just any contamination. The well in question contains vinyl chloride, which is so toxic the U.S. EPA says there is no safe level of exposure.

Personal injury lawyers could help Crestwood residents file a class-action lawsuit against village officials, and residents could win a lot of money for their damages from drinking a lifetime of dangerously contaminated water.

To read the full article about Madigan’s lawsuit and the severity of Crestwood’s situation, see the Tribune’s report.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on June 11, 2009 (boomark / email).