Lawsuit: Ford Responsible For 'Enormous Toxic Chemical Pool'

LIVONIA, MI — Schwartz Law Firm of Farmington Hills is representing 130 homeowners in Livonia in a lawsuit against Ford Motor Company, alleging that Ford is responsible for an "enormous toxic chemical pool," that contaminated Livonia's Alden Village neighborhood.

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 of Alden Village only found out about the contamination in 2016.

Shawn Collins, an attorney from a Naperville, IL law firm that teamed with Schwartz, said the families' homes are their nest egg. "It's what they have worked their whole life to earn, and, hopefully, to leave to their children," 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."

The Detroit Free Press reported that Ford paid out a $45,000 settlement to the state to cover costs of testing and monitoring the soil. Ford Motor Company media contacts were not immediately available to make a statement.

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