Supreme Court Says NC Homeowners Can't Sue Company That Polluted Drinking Water

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

Sam Hananel / The Associated Press
June 9, 2014 09:51 AM

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a group of homeowners in North Carolina can't sue a company that contaminated their drinking water decades ago because a state deadline has lapsed, a decision that could prevent thousands of other property owners in similar cases from recovering damages after being exposed to toxic waste.

In a 7-2 decision, the justices said state law strictly bars any lawsuit brought more than 10 years after the contamination occurred — even if residents did not realize their water was polluted until years later.

The high court reversed a lower court ruling that said federal environmental laws should trump the state law and allow the lawsuit against electronics manufacturer CTS Corp. to proceed.

The decision is a setback for the families of several thousand former North Carolina-based Marines suing the federal government in a separate case for exposing them to contaminated drinking water over several decades at Camp Lejeune. The government is relying on the same state law to avoid liability. That case is currently pending at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.


Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/business/supreme-court-says-nc-homeowners-can-t-sue-company-that-polluted-drinking-water-1.1120991

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Ah, our corporatist Supreme Court, hard at work. Wonderful.

[lostincalifornia]

3. True, however, the people of NC voted these politicians in who limited it to 10 years

[EEO]

5. Federal law trumps state law.

Or it is supposed to, anyway. Too bad the Supreme Court is largely bought and paid for by the rich.

[lostincalifornia]

8. absolutely. However, problem is this same SC ruled against Lilly Ledbetter, which was

a grossly unfair judgement, and even more applicable to federal law in this case because it was discrimination because she was a women. However, even though the lower courts ruled in her favor, when it got to the SC they said the statute of limitations had gone up, and reversed the ruling, even though the initial ruling was well with in the statute of limitations.

Because of that, I will not buy GoodYear tires

[Hosnon]

25. But a lot of federal claims are based on state law.

If the claim is a state claim brought in federal court, the state statute of limitations will apply.

[davekriss]

49. O federal law will still trump state law...

...when it serves the interests of the 0.1%. The Fascist Five on SCOTUS will guarantee that (I acknowledge this was a 7-2 decision, not the usual 5-4 -- but they're still the traitorous Fascist Five to me).

[AlbertCat]

15. the people of NC voted these politicians in who limited it to 10 years

Yes, I'm sure it was what those politicians ran on and all the people in NC thought it was just hunky dory then!

[Sanity Claws]

19. The statute of limitations usually starts running after a reasonable person should have known

of the violation.
This ruling seems to start the statute of limitations from the date it occurred, not discovery date. That seems to be a question of interpretation and thus, it is right to put the blame/responsibility on the Supreme Court, not the legislators.

[Jamastiene]

27. Uhm, excuse me. THIS "people of NC" did NOT vote those assholes in.

I voted for the Democrats. Gerrymandering is too complicated a problem here to even go into it, except to say, there is more to it than "the people of NC" being idiots. Yes, there are lots of idiots here, but remember there are also lots of us who are not too. THIS "people of NC" did not vote these assholes in. I voted for the Democratic Party, as always. Blanket statements like you just made make DU suck, heartily.

[lostincalifornia]

38. First of all I never said the people of NC were "idiots". The gerrymandering, which isn't unique to

NC did not happen overnight

Enough people did not vote, and things changed. You vote, I vote, but looking at the midterms the turnout everywhere was pathetic, not just NC

I think a more dangerous problem is the republican attempt to disenfranchise voters

However, I do understand your point. After all NC did go for Obama

[Jamastiene]

39. No, but I did.

Not all of the people of NC, but enough of them to vote in McCrory. The point still is all of us don't deserve the blame for what Republicans do and gerrymandering still needs to be stopped.

[yeoman6987]

32. It took the folks over 10 years to file?

Everything has an expiration date except Murder and that used to.

[Vincardog]

2. When the enemy controls the court can violent revolution be far behind?

[villager]

4. Well, now that they've given a green light to poisoning the family members of armed services

...personnel, I wonder what the 1% will do when they need those same personnel to defend their bankster/police state?

[Vincardog]

6. Draft them

[villager]

7. That will probably make things unravel further...

the 1% are good with greed, but not with "long term consequences..."

[Nihil]

47. It's OK ...

From the evidence (both historical & present-day), the 1% can completely and
safely rely on the short attention span of the public to allow them to continue
to do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want and to whoever
they want.

No sweat.

Now stop pausing your "Reality TV" and carry on consuming like a good citizen.

[sakabatou]

9. Ugh

[blackspade]

10. Corporations are apparently untouchable.

Money is speach, etc....

[aggiesal]

31. Everytime someone says ...

"Money is speech", I always say
"That's funny because my money has never said a word to me!"

That shuts them really fast. They have no response.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

40. The Kinks explain politics and economics.

The Kinks-Preservation Act I - Money and corruption:

The Kinks- Preservation Act II - Money Talks:

The Preservation albums are highly underappreciated and obscure, IMNSHMO.


The Kinks - Scrapheap City (the world of crap we live in):

[alfredo]

11. When will the American people realize they can't get justice in the courts and

decide their only recourse is taking to the streets?

Does the ruling class believe we will be forever docile?

I hope they wise up and loosen their grip on our government and our lives. I have little hope they will. They love their money and power more than they love our nation.

[christx30]

14. Yet when people actually stand up

to the government, they are called "nutjobs" and "crazies" and have all sorts of nasty things said about them. People defend the actions of the police and FBI and whatever agency goes after the ones that are standing up. The agents that go after them get a lot of sympathy. "Those poor FBI having to stake out this guy, getting weapons pointed at them. Those brave men and women doing their jobs."
When the SHTF, it's not going to be people on the left that are going to do it. It's going to be people that love guns, and hate the government that do it.

[Jamastiene]

28. Don't forget CT.

Whistle blowers are often called conspiracy theorists and laughed at....until it happens to more people and they have to face the consequences of not listening. By then, it is too late. Then it becomes the status quo and nothing ever gets done about it. That is how we got to this point in the first place.

[alfredo]

30. And they are going after the puppets, not the puppet masters.

[HooptieWagon]

12. Corporations own all three branches of govt.

If you don't like it, tough cookies....they also own the surveillance agency.

[Dustlawyer]

18. And don't forget the media, they own them too! It amazes me that we allow bribes called

"Campaign Contributions" to elect our Representatives. They have multiple Fundraisers and usually get a check from the same people/companies/organizations at each Fundraiser as long as they stay on the message they agreed upon initially (no new taxes! gun laws...).

[stillwaiting]

13. Ginsburg and Breyer were the 2 against.

Kagan and Sotomayor sided with Big Business.

Kagan and Sotomayor could have voted liberally and the corporations would have still won.

The Supreme Court seems to have become much more conservative with each passing resignation and nomination (on economic policy and really that's all that matters to the billionaires and their multinational corporations).

[progree]

34. "Kagan and Sotomayor sided with Big Business". Yes, this is difficult to digest. I am shocked

The other thing about the ruling is that it destroyed my old life-long notion that federal law trumps state law. According to the AP, http://news.yahoo.com/court-rules-against-homeowners-toxic-water-case-142745935--finance.html

The property owners argued that their claims were still valid under federal environmental laws, which give victims two years to sue from the date they discover what caused their illness, but the court ruled that the state law trumped that law -- "Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said Congress did not intend to pre-empt state "statutes of repose" laws that set a deadline for property claims based on the date of final contamination. He said federal environmental laws only cover statutes of limitation, where the clock starts running at the time of the injury.

"The case for federal pre-emption is particularly weak where Congress has indicated its awareness of the operation of state law in a field of federal interest, and has nonetheless decided to stand by both concepts and to tolerate whatever tension there is between them," Kennedy said.

It will be interesting to hear "Senior Legal Analysis Time" tonight (Norman Goldman)

[FiveGoodMen]

48. They were nominated by a guy who ALWAYS sides with Big Business.

[JDPriestly]

16. So who pays to clean the site up? Who pays to heal those injured?

Won't it still be the taxpayers?

[tclambert]

17. That's a bingo.

[progree]

36. "Who pays to heal those injured?" That's why we have the ACA - even the poor can get good care

now as they die.

[DeSwiss]

20. K&R

''Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannise but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.

When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education . . . the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint . . . . It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. . . . they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters.''

~Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America - Volume 2

[madashelltoo]

21. They are saying

F. U. Citizens!

[Leme]

22. Wonderful, just wonderful (sarcasm)

[Dr Hobbitstein]

23. It's terrible to hear that a company like CTS is doing this...

They are the ONLY USA company still making high quality potentiometers for guitar and amplifier usage. As a builder of these things, I wish I had an option with which to boycott them. Sadly, Alpha and Bourns are not a real option (at least not in guitar and amplifier design, I use Alpha in effects pedal design). Even the "boutique" potentiometer suppliers are selling custom made CTS pots to their spec. There really is no other option...

[Patiod]

24. Don't the Libertarians need to fix this?

Aren't they the ones saying that the courts will be the way to mitigate harm, as opposed to all those mean old regulations?

[Jamastiene]

26. And Fracking has been legalized now here too.

My county is one of the counties with greedy ass politicians foaming at the mouth to bring fracking in here. I guess I should start my lawsuit before they find the inevitable contamination based on previous studies about it. Fucking hell, I hate my home state most days, and twice as bad on Sundays.

[MindMover]

29. Ya gotta get ...

[Uncle Joe]

33. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.

[elehhhhna]

35. justice should override that arbitrary deadline, imo

[blkmusclmachine]

37. Sucks

[Ash_F]

41. Garbage.

The Supreme Court is garbage.

[antiGOPin294]

42. This is more proof that this country's institutions don't have our interests at heart.

I suppose the Supreme Court is in favor of culling a significant chunk of the general population? That way, fewer people will be able to challenge such outrageous rulings, or fight back against corrupt corporations. How sickening.

[hopemountain]

43. it is unlikely, however, that the water

coming from their faucets is more than 10 yrs old. in addition, if one can sue the tobacco industry for illnesses/death caused by tobacco consumption, years after one quits smoking, why not for contamination of water by chemicals leached into the water table years after the dumping? it can take some time for chemicals to leach downstream through the soil down to water tables.

[GeorgeGist]

44. Too late for justice.

[SoapBox]

45. Let the 7 of them drink those waters!

What's that? Drink that water?

NO way???

...thought so.

p.s..."state law strictly prohibits..."

Fuck that bullshit.

[Jim Lane]

46. Doesn't it give anyone pause that the liberal Justices were evenly divided?

The key issue in the case, according to the linked article (I haven't read the opinions), was interpreting the federal statute. Congress had the power to establish a federal cause of action that would not be subject to the limitation period under state law. It also had the power to establish the federal cause of action but allow those claims to be subject to the state's ten-year limitation. The case reached the Supreme Court because Congress wasn't clear about what it was doing, so there was room for reasonable disagreement about whether Congress had exercised its undoubted power to pre-empt state law.

The four liberal Justices were split because they are honest judges who assess each case on its merits, not based on a predetermined ideology -- which is the approach of the four hard-core conservatives (Kennedy sometimes rejects the party line) and is also evidently the approach of most of the people posting in this thread.