Celebrity attorney Johnnie Cochran, and Jere Beasley, a Montgomery attorney who specializes in high-profile personal injury/class action lawsuits, say they and two other law firms intend to join forces to file a new PCB pollution case against Monsanto Co.
A statement Thursday afternoon from Beasley's law firm said the four firms that will work together on the case are the Cochran firm, a national litigation firm; Beasley, Allen of Montgomery; Burr and Foreman of Birmingham; and Shelby and Cartee, also of Birmingham.
A spokesman for Beasley's firm said the four law firms will join forces in the case because "the firms involved expect to do battle on a number of different fronts, and to properly address the needs of the large number of residents involved required the combined efforts and resources of the four firms."
Beasley will meet with potential plaintiffs Monday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Anniston Entertainment Complex in western Anniston. Cochran was also scheduled to attend, but will not, due to a court conflict. A Beasley spokesman said a tent will be set up near the complex to accommodate any overflow crowd.
Cochran held a meeting at the same location several months ago. Approximately 5,000 residents listened as Cochran vowed he would help clean up PCB pollution which leaked from the former Monsanto plant into creeks and residential neighborhoods.
The Environmental Protection Agency began a Superfund investigation of the polluted neighborhoods in 1999.
In the past year, Monsanto has settled cases with a combined payment of approximately $80 million. A large number of other cases are pending, including the combined lawsuits filed in 1996 by Donald Stewart, who represents 3,500 clients claiming personal injury and property damages. Stewart's case is scheduled to go to trial in Etowah County Circuit Court on Jan. 7.
"All of the attorneys involved share the view that the release of these contaminants into the land and waterways in and around Anniston represents one of the most egregious acts of environmental contamination in our state's history," Beasley's spokesman quoted him as saying.
Lawyers for Monsanto, as well as officials of Solutia, Inc., a spin-off which runs the former Monsanto plant in Anniston, maintain the company has always acted responsibly regarding its PCB pollution.
Anniston activist David Baker, who helped persuade Cochran to come to Anniston, said he hopes the new cases will put "more pressure" on the company and government officials to clean up the PCB pollution.
"We are committed to get people restitution and fight for a health clinic. We will not stop until that is done," said Baker, president of Community Against Pollution.
