Suit pending on landfill with Love Canal legacy

Stag Liuzza, LLC is representing several families seeking damages for exposure to chemicals from Love Canal that were moved to a Wheatfield landfill. Four families have filed notice against the Town of Wheatfield alleging that a landfill with a Love Canal legacy made them sick through exposure to dangerous chemicals. Each family intends to sue for $60 million in damages, according to the notices of claim filed Wednesday at the Wheatfield clerk’s office. One of the lawyers representing the families said test results of their soil and dust in their homes showed elevated levels of cancer-causing chemicals, including arsenic and PCBs. “These chemicals are unusual, they’re chemicals that are associated with the Love Canal,” said Mike Stag, with Stag Liuzza LLC in New Orleans. “We are finding them at levels that we find alarming. In fact, our environmental scientist described them as being shocking and very concerning.” In late 2015, the state had a subsidiary of Occidental Chemical Co. remove 80 dumptruck loads of Love Canal waste buried at the landfill. In the process, the state Department of Environmental Conservation found more contamination and classified the landfill a Superfund site. Brett Grawe, one of the homeowners on Forbes Street who filed a claim, has liver cancer and kidney problems. He said the results of the soil and dust tests “scared” him. All four families reside in the City of North Tonawanda. “I was in disbelief that it was in my neighborhood,” he said. “I’m worried about this street, my house, my family, I’m just concerned. I mean it’s crazy that this is happening and how could it have happened? And I’d like some answers.”