Stuart Calwell Reflects on 10th Anniversary of Water Crisis and Importance of Holding Corporations Accountable

Charleston, W.Va., January 9, 2024 — Stuart Calwell remembers all too well the 2014 water crisis that contaminated the public water supply

of approximately 300,000 residents, businesses, hospitals, and schools across nine counties in West Virginia. A lawyer on Charleston’s West Side, his law firm, now known as Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC, filed a class action lawsuit against Eastman Chemical Co. and West Virginia American Water Company to protect the rights of those affected by the leak of more than 10,000 gallons of a chemical mixture that included Crude MCHM from a corroded Freedom Industries’ aboveground storage tank into the public water supply system. Calwell was appointed as lead class counsel for the plaintiffs in the litigation, which ultimately settled for $151 million dollars.

“The chemical leak flowed into the Elk River and downstream to the water company’s intake treatment facility,” said Calwell. “When the water company tells 300,000 people across nine counties that you can only use the water supply to flush your commode and put out fires, your worst fears take over your thought processes,” said Calwell. “How will I feed my children? How will I clean my clothes? How will I go to work? Will I lose wages? How will I afford bottled water – and enough bottled water to last for several days or weeks? Who do I trust? Numerous members of my staff were confronted with these very questions,” Calwell said. “And they were scared, like everyone else, and outraged, like everyone else, that something of this magnitude could happen anywhere.”

“So, our team identified the culpable parties and went after them in court to represent and advocate for those impacted by the crisis to ensure they received justice,” Calwell said. “This case was a prime example of the importance of an independent judiciary where citizens are put on an equal footing with powerful corporate interests to seek redress for the wrongs impacting entire communities.” Calwell added that unlike many class action lawsuits, these plaintiffs received actual monetary compensation.

Calwell said that communities from around the state and the country reached out to help those in need. "It’s encouraging to watch truckloads of water arriving from all corners of the country and then watching volunteers distribute it to everyone in need,” said Calwell. “And everyone was in need. There wasn’t a single person or business not in need of access to clean water.”

“Listening to the stories of hundreds of our clients and how the crisis affected them is the exact reason we feverishly work to hold corporations accountable for their malfeasance,” said Calwell. “Our citizens need to know someone is always there for them. It was a high honor to be able to fight for the underdog and represent hundreds of thousands of people and businesses in our region in this case.”

In another class action lawsuit filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court by Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC involving a water main explosion that occurred in Dunbar on June 23, 2015, notice was recently sent to class members by the Notice Administrator in Jeffries, et al. v. West Virginia American Water Company providing details about the class action and how class members may participate in the litigation.

Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC also recently filed a class action lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court against West Virginia American Water and Mountaineer Gas due to the recent natural gas outage that occurred on Charleston’s West Side on November 11, 2023, wherein a water main ruptured and infiltrated 46 miles of the natural gas lines serving the West Side.

For more information about Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC, visit https://www.cldlaw.com/.

ABOUT CALWELL LUCE DITRAPANO PLLC

With more than two centuries of combined experience, the lawyers at Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC practice throughout West Virginia and in multiple jurisdictions across the nation. Its legal team focuses on catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, auto accident, workplace accident, and property damage litigation. The firm also handles significant environmental contamination and exposure litigation in California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The firm also has a nationwide practice relating to inmate injuries resulting from improper medical care, assaults by corrections staff, negligent processing and monitoring leading to suicides as well as cases involving constitutional rights violations by law enforcement officers in all settings.