A second lawsuit was filed on Thursday seeking damages from Limetree Bay and its investment partners for St. Croix residents affected by the toxic emissions and since the facility resumed operations in February after eight mothballed years.
Unlike a previous lawsuit filed on Wednesday seeking medical monitoring as well as nuisance damages, the plaintiffs represented by attorney John Dema seek compensation solely for the lost use and enjoyment of their property.
“Limetree’s operations have limited residents’ ability to use their homes, have polluted the cisterns of many area homes preventing residents from using their water, have caused residents to experience a host of nuisance-level discomforts (e.g., odor, burning eyes, nose and throat, headaches, nausea, worry) and have otherwise impeded the residents’ use and enjoyment of their homes,” the complaint alleges.
The plaintiffs, who live in Strawberry Hill, “seek to represent all individuals who have resided in the neighborhoods north, northwest, west and southwest of the Limetree complex on or after January 1, 2020.”
Both lawsuits have been filed in the Superior Court’s Complex Litigation Section, which on Tuesday was assigned a judge, the Honorable Alphonso G. Andrews Jr. after more than a year without one.
With more plaintiffs and cases possible in the near future, the court may eventually need to create a steering committee with a lead attorney for them all.
The full case can be read here: Limetree Complaint 052020121.
