By Katie Farrell Lovett
NEWBURYPORT — Neighbors of the Crow Lane landfill who filed a lawsuit last month against the owner of the landfill heard a response yesterday from New Ventures.
Salisbury environmental attorney William Simmons is representing the 74 adults and 14 minors who have sued landfill owner and operator New Ventures. The plaintiffs are asking for a jury trial and seeking damages stemming from spending the last half decade living with the impact of the Crow Lane landfill, such as health repercussions from the sicking odors and the impact on their property values, they say.
According to the complaint filed Oct. 20 in Essex Superior Court, the plaintiffs are saying New Ventures has "negligently" and "willfully" broken the law with their actions.
The plaintiffs total 39 households.
Simmons' firm received the response yesterday and had no comment on the document, as they were still reading through it.
The neighbors are seeking an award for the "annoyance, inconvenience and discomfort damages" to each individual named in the suit and an award of "loss of the exclusive possession and loss of use of their property damages" as well as an award for future damages for each day after December that the plaintiffs are damaged by hydrogen sulfide emissions from the landfill.
The complaint claims New Ventures has "failed to abate the continuing nuisance" from the landfill, noting that the landfill "created a private continuous nuisance in that the continuous release of air contaminants and pollution, including ... objectionable odors and H2S onto and around plaintiffs' properties," which caused substantial interference with the neighbors' right to use and enjoy their properties.
Simmons said he first heard from a neighbor last year, and the case began to move forward after a meeting with abutters at the end of September.
Now that New Ventures has filed its response, the case will move into the "discovery" stage, Simmons said. Simmons said the case could be resolved in about a year and a half, as it's on an expedited track.
