12 On Your Side Investigates: Denmark drinking water lawsuit settlement
DENMARK, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A judge says he needs time before deciding whether a settlement offer in a class action lawsuit involving the town of Denmark’s drinking water is a fair offer.
On your side investigates why citizens say the offer is not only unfair, but makes no real lasting impact in holding regulatory bodies responsible for safe drinking water.
Citizens of Denmark walked out of the last hearing before a judge to sign off on the settlement agreement.
“I knew it was going to be difficult when we walked in because it is messy,” said Letitia Dowling.
Feeling just as stuck in a mess as they did six years ago when they first filed the class action lawsuit.
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“And it’s sad to say this is our one opportunity,” said Dowling. “This is our one opportunity with an attorney and a lawyer, and the attorney representing the class didn’t even do a really thorough job of talking to all citizens.”
Dowling is the only citizen out of 1,300 to meet the May 5 deadline to file an objection to the proposed settlement in the class action lawsuit.
“I will tell you literally at 3:45 p.m., 4:30 p.m., I was at the clerk of courts office, and they were literally almost locking the doors on me,” said Dowling.
The judge signed off on the notice to go out in February, but the postmark on her letter shows it didn’t get mailed out until late February, giving her and the rest of the town only days to mail off their objection.
“If he just looks at the agreements of the mediation, the city didn’t even meet its agreement to even notify citizens properly,” said Dowling. “Without this class action lawsuit, we were never notified about the use of HaloSan,” said Dowling.
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The lawsuit stems from DHEC, South Carolina’s oversight agency on water systems, allowing the city of Denmark to treat the town’s drinking water with HaloSan, a chemical the EPA hasn’t approved for human consumption.
DHEC, the city of Denmark and Berry Systems Inc., the maker of HaloSan, are the three named defendants, but the proposed settlement offer only requires Berry Systems, not the town or state, to pay up $1 million. About $400,000 of it would go to attorneys and court fees, the remaining $600,000 would go to the citizens of Denmark, which would equal out to about $450 a person.
“DHEC and Denmark did the injury, so DHEC got to say, ‘Oh this is what we did wrong,’ and then DHEC got to say, ‘this is how we are going to fix it,’” said “Now DHEC gets to say, ‘This is the proof we fixed it.,’” said Dowling.
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Letitia objected to it because the settlement fails to hold the city and state responsible. It also doesn’t contain wording to ensure that the town and state oversight agency follow state and federal guidelines in the future.
“It’s almost like when you at it like a common court case,” said Dowling. “I did the crime, I get to say what the crime was, I get to say how I’m going to punish myself, and I get to prove to you how I punished myself. Does that work in a criminal case? No, so why should we be setting that precedent in a civil case when it comes to water quality and something that I have to continue to pay for?”
The maker of HaloSan, Berry Systems Inc., is no longer in business, but the settlement amount of $1 million is the maximum payout under its insurance policy.
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