Dozens of landowners along the Ogeechee River have settled with textile processor King America Finishing in civil suits that alleged illegal discharge of toxic chemicals from the textile processor’s Screven County plant damaged their property.
The settlements were announced in Bulloch County Superior Court in a status conference Friday, with more than 60 cases expected to be dismissed. The financial terms of the settlements are sealed.
About 60 other cases against King America Finishing were settled through mediation in December under terms that are also sealed.
Bulloch County Superior Court Judge John R. Turner had consolidated the most recently settled cases — and four others that were not settled — in April.
“We are so pleased that we have been able to resolve this dispute with so many of our neighbors,” said King America’s President Mike Beasley in a press release. “We expect to be neighbors for a long time, and we needed to find a way to peacefully share the same community.”
Defendants were represented by Alston & Bird along with HunterMaclean; Edenfield, Cox, Bruce & Classens; and The Wade Law Firm.
In May 2011, the Ogeechee was the site of a fish kill that left 38,000 fish dead; all were discovered below King America Finishing’s discharge pipe. A follow-up investigation by the state’s Environmental Production Division revealed the company’s fire retardant processing line had been operating without a pollution permit since its installation in 2006.
After a brief interruption following the fish kill, the line was restarted; it continues to operate without a permit. The company is operating under directives from an August 2011 EPD letter.
The EPD is reviewing comments on a proposed permit, as well as a consent order, a spokesman said earlier this week.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Bart Turner, of Savage, Turner, Pinckney & Madison, said all his cases had been resolved and the remaining four cases that were not resolved were plaintiffs representing themselves. Also representing plaintiffs were Oliver Maner; The Tate Law Group, MacKenzie & Hart; J. Scott Vaughan; Franklin Taulbee Rushing Snipes & Marsh; Brennan & Wasden; and Hurt, Stolz & Cromwell.
“It’s apparent to me that King America has made a lot of changes since the fish kill, and now has the most tested, monitored and scrutinized wastewater discharge in the state of Georgia,” attorney Greg Hodges of Oliver Maner said in a press release.
A separate Clean Water Act case filed by the Ogeechee Riverkeeper in federal court is proceeding. Emily Markesteyn, the executive director and interim riverkeeper, said her organization is aiming for tangible change — not a monetary gain.
“The goal of our lawsuit under the Clean Water Act is to improve the water quality of the river and restore it in light of alleged Clean Water Act violations,” she said. “It’s important people know ours is still going on and we still need support.”