Anderson V. WR Grace - Case Study Example

The Anderson V. WR Grace case study The landmark in this case is centered on the allegation on the contaminationof two wells supplied by municipal in Woburn, Massachusetts. Three industries were accused of the contamination. The plaintiffs of the case included a group of eight families who lived in Woburn town that was supplied by these two municipal wells. Defendants of the case included UniFirst Corporation of Interstate Uniform Services, W.R. Grace & Co. of the Cryovac Plant, and Beatrice Foods, Inc.

who owned the John Riley Tannery (Gerrard and Foster 644).Plaintiffs argued that the accused these companies used an indigestible toxic chemical analyzed in the water samples obtained from the municipal wells. According to the plaintiffs, their chemicals led to sever health effects on their families and eventual death. Notably children from seven of the plaintiffs’ families contracted leukemia and died following complications from these chemicals. Additionally, a spouse of one of the plaintiffs contracted a severe myelocytic leukemia and died out of the same illness (Gerrard and Foster 657).

Despite the laboratory findings in the water samples from these wells, claims of the plaintiffs that the contaminated water causes leukemia led to numerous questions: how did TCE got into the wells? Who could have been responsible? Could TCE (chemical analyzed from wells’ water) cause leukemia in children? On the other hand, were the wells supplying drinking water to the East Woburn neighborhood carried leukemia dusts?The findings revealed that dumpsites were too close to the drinking wells.

Moreover, some of the chemicals used by these industries were found in the wells’ water. Thus, the chemicals caused severe health problems and eventual death to some of the plaintiffs’ families (Gerrard and Foster 654). However, the chemicals could not be blamed for the cause of leukemia. From the findings, someone was to take the responsibility of damages realized. Therefore, W.R. Grace and plaintiffs were left to settle approximately eight million US dollars despite the company denial of and wrongdoing or responsibility for the damages.

Works CitedGerrard, Michael, and Sheila R. Foster. The Law of Environmental Justice: Theories and Procedures to Address Disproportionate Risks. Chicago, Ill: American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, 2008. Print.