"What is troubling about this case is that fraud, misrepresentation and dishonesty apparently became part of the operating culture of the Defendant corporation (WMX). Even more so, Defendant and its corporate officers apparently refused to recognize their duties as required by the totally unambiguous contract." (Federal Judge Ordell Horton, 1996)
"The 1983 GAO study and the data assembled for the Commission for Racial Justice show a propensity for locating large commercial landfills in predominantly rural black communities: the largest commercial hazardous waste landfill in the nation is located in Emelle, Alabama (Sumter County) where Blacks comprise 78.9 percent of the population." "Toxic Wastes and Race," UCC Commission for Racial Justice, 1987.
"In rural Alabama, one of the county's most impoverished regions, lies Sumter County. One-third of the county's residents live below the poverty level; over 65 percent of the residents are black; over 90 percent of residents near the landfill are black. The average per capita income in Sumter was $9,300 in 1989.
In 1978, the international waste disposal conglomerate Waste Management, Inc. (WMI), decided to buy a small dump from Resource Industries (RI) in the village of Emelle in the center of Sumter. 'It was clearly political ties that allowed RI to bring the plant into the community,' one local official remarked. Jim Parsons, one of the original owners of the dump and son-in-law of then Governor George Wallace sold the dump to CWM (Waste Management). ... Since acquiring the landfill, WMI has dumped millions of tons of hazardous waste on what was once lush farmland, creating the largest hazardous waste landfill in the United states, and possible the world. A local county official calls the 2,700-acre landfill (expanded from 340 acres since WMI acquired it) 'America's largest pay toilet." The dump sits directly over the Eutaw Aquifer, which supplies water to a large part of Alabama." ("Waste Management, Inc.: An Encyclopedia of Environmental Crimes & Other Misdeeds," Charlie Cray, Greenpeace,1991).
Cray documents the countless protests against WMX's Emelle site and the millions of dollars of fines and penalties WMX paid for illegal dumping and processing.
Now this ugly WMX betrayal of the Emelle community is coming back to haunt WMX as the court has found WMX guilty of cheating, fraud, misrepresentation, greed and other crimes against the original dump owners! The true owners, the community get nothing, but the corrupt Wallace crowd receives $91 million! In the case of Mark W. Gregory, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. Chemical Waste Management, Inc. (WMX), (Case No. 93-2343-H/V) Defendant Federal Judge Odell Horton on December 11, 1996 awarded the plaintiffs contract damages of $76 Million and punitive damages of $15 Million! Listen to some of the words of the court!
"Defendant's 'new' interpretation of the contract payment language is clearly without any support in the record and is merely a
mental fabrication in an attempt to justify Defendant's contractually unauthorized deductions from royalty payment calculations due Plaintiffs. Plaintiff demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that Defendant's corporate officers willfully and knowingly defrauded them of royalty payments. ...
The Court concludes that Chem Waste could have operated the incinerator at Emelle included in the draft permit issued by the EPA ... The is also of the opinion that Chem Waste abandoned its efforts to obtain licensing for an incinerator at Emelle because Chem Waste realize it could send its incinerator waste to its Port Arthur, Texas facility and not pay Plaintiffs a royalty on the revenue generated. Chem Waste did not use its best efforts or attempt in good faith to secure incineration capability at Emelle. ...
Plaintiffs have established the elements for fraudulent misrepresentation, Count II, by clear and convincing evidence. Chem Waste sent Plaintiffs quarterly statement that falsely represented that the royalty payments were calculated on 12 1/2% of 'disposal' revenues ... Evidence in the record clearly shows that Chem Waste violated its promise and this provision of the Agreement. ... Chem Waste intentionally failed to disclose and concealed the fact that it began calculating the royalty payments in a manner substantially different from previous occasions. ... Plaintiffs suffered damage as a result of Chem Waste's fraudulent action. ...
The record shows that Defendant knew its actions were fraudulent and through fraud and misrepresentation concealed its actions from the Plaintiffs for a number of years. In addition, Defendant chose not to take any corrective action even when informed of its improper accounting by its own outside accounting firm. ...
First, the Court perceives Defendant's conduct as particularly reprehensible based on the lack of any necessity for such fraud in light of the amount of revenues being generated by the Emelle facility. There was no reason whatsoever for Defendant to undertake such conduct other than greed. Second, Defendant's conduct extended over a significant period of time and involved high ranking corporate officers. Third, Defendant undertook significant steps to conceal and cover-up its fraud. Lastly, the Court is of the opinion that the size of this award is necessary in order to perhaps get Defendant and its officers' attention.
During the trial of this case, it became crystal clear to this Court, based upon the totality of the evidence in the record, that Defendant's top corporate officers decided upon and followed a well defined plan to cheat Plaintiffs out of money rightfully due them under the terms of the purchase agreement for the Emelle hazardous waste disposal facility. Nothing more - nothing less. What is troubling about this case is that fraud, misrepresentation and dishonesty apparently became part of the operating culture of the Defendant corporation. Even more so, Defendant and its corporate officers apparently refused to recognize their duties as required by the totally unambiguous contract. ... It seems Defendant and its corporate officers still believe that they did not do anything wrong".