NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Long-pending lawsuits stemming from toxic waste contamination in Niagara Falls’ notorious Love Canal neighborhood have a new court date in May.
The Buffalo News reported Saturday that a federal appeals court in New York City will hear arguments in May on whether 19 pending lawsuits involving more than 600 people should be heard in state or federal court.
The suits stem from a 2011 incident in which sewer repair crews struck contaminated waste in the area, and claim a containment structure built in the 1980s to store toxic waste has leaked.
Love Canal was the site of a landfill where massive contamination occurred in the 1970s, causing extensive health and property damage.
The plaintiffs initially filed the suits in state court, and in January 2021 a federal judge ruled that's where they should be heard.
OxyChem, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, whose predecessor created the landfill in the 1940s; the city of Niagara Falls and other defendants want the case heard in federal court, arguing the containment structure was built under federal Superfund laws.
They appealed the judge's ruling, and the case is scheduled to come before the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals on May 5 in Manhattan.
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