New Orleans residents whose homes were on top of a toxic landfill score $75 million

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$75 million for New Orleans residents whose homes were built on landfill

WWL

A group of New Orleans residents whose homes were built on a toxic landfill decades ago have won a $75.3 million court judgement against the city, its housing authority and the local school board.

State district Judge Nicole Sheppard's ruling said 5,000 residents are entitled to that total amount for emotional distress and property damage involving the former Agriculture Street landfill, according to The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.

Sheppard's Monday ruling says the housing authority and the parish school board were liable for building two residential communities — Gordon Plaza and Press Park — and Moton Elementary School atop the landfill, which was later named a federal Superfund site.

Homes in the area were built in the 1970s and 1980s and marketed to Black, low- and middle-income residents who weren't told that the site was a one-time landfill. As awareness grew and environmentalists raised concerns, the area was named a federal Superfund cleanup site in 1994. Amid reports that the soil was contaminated with lead and carcinogens, including arsenic, residents began a decades-long effort to be relocated at government expense.

“This is a big deal for the residents of Agriculture Street,” said Suzette Bagneris, a lead attorney representing residents.

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Another concern for residents is the city's reputation for failing to pay legal judgments in a variety of types of lawsuits, including wrongful deaths and and disputes over city contracts. As of late November, the city had more than 560 outstanding judgments and settlements in state and federal courts with some dating back 25 years, according to a Times-Picayune ' New Orleans Advocate analysis of city law department records.

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