Naperville Attorneys Sue Ford Over 'Toxic Chemical Pool'

LIVONIA, MI — A Naperville law firm announced early Wednesday that it is filing a suit against Ford Motor Company on behalf of more than 100 homeowners in Michigan, alleging that the car maker is responsible for an "enormous toxic chemical pool" that has contaminated an entire neighborhood. Naperville's Collins Law Firm said it is joining Schwartz Law Firm of Farmington Hills, Michigan in representing 130 homeowners in the Alden Village neighborhood in Livonia, Michigan.

The suit alleges that chemicals from Ford's transmission plant have contaminated groundwater and soil in the neighborhood. It claims known carcinogens vinyl chloride and trichloroethylene, or TCE, were poured, spilled or dumped by Ford decades ago at its Livonia transmission plant, "forming an enormous toxic chemical pool, hundreds of thousands of square feet in area, in the soil and shallow groundwater there." Since then, chemicals from the "toxic pool" have migrated into the groundwater in the plaintiffs' neighborhood, according to the lawsuit.

Attorneys said the residents only found out about the contamination in 2016.

"As it is for most families, these families' homes are their nest egg. It's what they have worked their whole life to earn, and, hopefully, to leave to their children,” Naperville attorney Shawn Collins said in a statement. “When toxic chemicals invade their neighborhood, it threatens not only the value of that nest egg, but also the peace and security they should be able to enjoy in their homes."

A press release issued by the Collins Law Firm says the case is similar to claims recently made in federal court by Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). Last month, MDEQ sued Ford, alleging that the company's chemicals "have contaminated groundwater and soil" in the Alden Village neighborhood, among other places, "and may have affected air inside and/or beneath buildings and real estate located" in the neighborhood, threatening "an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment."

In a July 24 settlement, the Dearborn-based automaker was ordered to pay a $45,000 reimbursement fee to the state to cover testing and associated costs, and to continue to monitor the area and take steps necessary to deal with the pollution, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Attorneys planned a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Livonia home of one of the 130 plaintiffs.

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