Lawsuit is settled

[plumber_greg]

Got a notice and paperwork from lawyers yesterday, the lawsuit involving Prime Tanning spreading sludge of our farm is settled.
25 farmers, including me, got 10 million dollars. Lawyers will get 40%, not counting what they will try to fanangle out of the courts. It's paid on a per acre basis. I don't know for sure how many arces they spread it on, but I think it was about 5,000.
Funny part about it all is that in order to get the free sludge, you had to know someone. Without my job and contacts it would havenever been spread on my farm.
The levels of hexvalient chromium, ain't spelled right, were very low, all parties agree that no effects of it will ever show up. We're getting paid for the loss of value on our ground because it was spread there. I myself see no effects on the prices of land that is being sold, but have not tried to sell my farm. Any medical problems attriubted to the sludge will be taken care of for the rest of my, my wife's and 3 kids life.
I feel a little confused about the money. I asked for the sludge, didn't ask if it was completly safe, and was thrilled to get the equlivent of 175-90-90 amount of fertlizer for all those years. I am going on the fact that if it ever does affect the price of the realestate, my kids will benifit. Susposed to get paid within 60 days of May 7. gs

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Does the defendant have the funds to pay that kind of a settlement?

 

[Alan]

So, if I did my math correct, you get $240K before taxes?...... Daddy

 

[LRTX1]

Alan, sounds like it varies per farmer based upon per acre use. Depending upon how many acres Greg put it on, there just may be a fight to see who gets to be kin with him... :cboy:

 

[3waycross]

So, if I did my math correct, you get $240K before taxes?...... Daddy

Hey Bro......when we gonna go visit Dad. My momma always said we had kin folks in Mo that we hadn't met yet!

 

[Howdyjabo]

Why did they get sued if there is no danger? And it hasn't affected land values.
You do have a good indicator of issues if you start having trouble with your cattle-- and I sure would put some sheep out there. They are like a canary in a mine.

 

[larryshoat]

According to my calcalatin that would be 400,00.

Larry

 

[inbredredneck]

According to my calcalatin that would be 400,00.

Larry

the snakes get 40% off the top larry

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Greg for a small fee i will hide you from the moochers. You can have peace and quite and nobody looking for a hand out.

 

[bear]

Say--Thank you Erin Brockovich!

Bear

 

[john250]

"Prime Tanning" is an odd name for a company that spreads sludge.

 

[plumber_greg]

Hello, new nephews, brothers, sons [altho' I can't remember all the women's names I have slept with, you could be my son}.
The defendants were Burns and McDonald's. They were the sixth company listed, the others had declared banckruptcy. THey got stuck cuz' they bought a company that had bought a company that had bought a company that owned a subsidary company named Blueside Tanning, later bought by Prime Tanning out of Maine. Prime Tanning never spread the sludge from the hides [ animal hair, chemicals, who knows what] on any farmland, just got sued.
Wasn't even sure I was listed as a plantiff. I just sent an e-mail to some lawyer office in Los Angles a couple of years ago, bitching about the fact that no one asked me if I wanted to sue. Added my name and address, and never heard anything until I picked up a certified packet at the post office 2 days ago. Funny how drinking and computers make you forget things. Saw their website address in the newspaper.
Have no Idea how much I'll get Inbred's right the snakes are getting as much as they can. The hearing is because the courts have to see if the lawyer charges are legit. The papers also say "The court will also decide if any additional attorney fees are warranted." I can't see that the attornies wil ask for any additional money above what they have already charged. They probably are just thinking of us and won't want any more.
Don't know how much I will get or when I will really get it. Maybe my grandkids will recieve a check big enough to make a down payment on a good used car.

 

[larryshoat]

According to my calcalatin that would be 400,00.

Larry

the snakes get 40% off the top larry

Dangit, I always forget about the snakes till one bites me.

Larry

 

[john250]

Oh--THAT kind of tanning. I was wondering how much some SPF 50 could endanger a person :lol:

 

[plumber_greg]

Yeah, John, that kind of tanning. It actually wasn't really sludge. It was the daily leftover from the process. We were on a rotation, and if you turned down the stuff, you missed out that year. They worked around the crop ground and tried to spread there in the winter and the pastures when crop were in the field, but they had to spread each day somewhere. If they left your farm, they wouldn't be back for that year. One year it was really muddy here and I had a road 50' wide going to all my pastures. On Mondays they would have about 7 or 8 dump truck loads to spread, the rest of the days, not counting Sunday, was around 5 or 6. They spread while the cows were grazing, and the whole area stunk for days. I used to tell Sara it smelled like money to me, and yesterday she admitted that it was money.
I still feed on the areas where they dumped it to load the spreader, if it was muddy, they just told the truck drivers to haul enough rock that they could back in, didn't care how much, they had to spread. One year they had the spreader spread 2 ton of lime per acre on my back pasture, didn't cost me anything. Even if they poisioned me, it was still good deal. gs

 

[plumber_greg]

Don't want to bore everyone with the details, but one good part of the stuff was that it broke down all year, constantly feeding the grass. They quit in 2008, and I still can show you where some spilled and the grass is taller than anywhere else, as well as still seeing the sludge on the ground. You would just have to see the grass to believe how much there was, fescue and brome was 4'and 5' tall and so thick you could hardly mow it and as green as anyone could imagine. gs

 

[3waycross]

Don't want to bore everyone with the details, but one good part of the stuff was that it broke down all year, constantly feeding the grass. They quit in 2008, and I still can show you where some spilled and the grass is taller than anywhere else, as well as still seeing the sludge on the ground. You would just have to see the grass to believe how much there was, fescue and brome was 4'and 5' tall and so thick you could hardly mow it and as green as anyone could imagine. gs

Did they test the grass itself for toxins?

 

[maryk]

Very well said bear. Erin Brochivich did all the leg work for this. And yes you had better get regular check ups, there are medical issues that become apparent because of this.

 

[plumber_greg]

Vic, not that i know of. There was rules about 300' from a well, 50' from a ditch and property line. Never heard anyone having a problem of any kind.
Maryk, thanks for your concern. Something will kill me anyway, I remember atrizine, sencor, etc. plugging up sprayer nozzles, cleaned them swishing them in the chemcial tank with my hands. Now to spray your supposed to look like an alien. Too many things like that durning the last 40 years to worry about levels of chemicals that are too minute to measure.
Erin Brochivich did nothing, just talked. She wanted us all to be backward hillbillies that she could lead away from the big bad companies. No legwork was required on her part, she is an activist. An activist job is to try to find something to stir up problems, whether they exist or not. She did nothing for me or anyone I know. She got involved cuz' a man 30 miles from any of the sludge lost his wife to a brain toumor. His mother died of the same thing, so he contacted her and the next thing we all knew there was a toumor cluster in DeKalb county.
The only thing she could find to work up was the Prime Tanning sludge. I remember several people heard her say, " I don't know who we are gonna' sue, but we'll look till we find someone." We meaning her and some lawyers from LA.
They dug, probed, talked and had meetings and could find nothing. So they decided some company 30 miles from them must be doing it. Have no respect for that woman. gs

 

[bear]

PG
Erin Brochovich may or may not had any involvement in your case directly, but she exposed the side effects of hexavalent chromium long before it was ever spread on your property. I don't know much about Erin Brochovich, but I think it is safe to say that the case history that was developed through her persistence pretty much paves the way for any case regarding hexavalent chromium.
Bear