April 21, 2008 Residents' Suit Against City of Morristown

After having provided the required 60-day notice of intent to sue, Roe Junction and Witt residents filed a lawsuit against the City of Morristown on March 27, 2008, regarding Koch Foods' continuing discharge into the city sewer system of wastewater that has been inadequately pretreated.

The first three pages of the suit, listing the resident plaintiffs and describing the "Nature of the Case," are shown above. You can enlarge each page by clicking on the image.

Other pages of the 24-page Complaint describe general allegations regarding Koch Foods' discharge of wastewater into the city's sewer system and the City's violation of the Clean Water Act and other standards.

The wastewater that has been inadequately pretreated is wastewater that has been "used for the cleanup of blood, chicken guts, and other offal" prior to its discharge into the sewer system. The City is alleged to have "failed to force Koch Foods to remediate the underlying problem."

Several claims are made in the suit such as (1) Violation of Pretreatment Standards; (2) Discharging without a Permit in Violation of the Clean Water Act; (3) Nuisance; (3) Trespass; and (5) Inverse Condemnation.

Residents of these two areas previously filed a lawsuit against Koch Foods over many of the same issues that are noted in the residents' suit against the City of Morristown. The problems are alleged to have begun around February 2005 when the deboning factory opened in the East Tennessee Progress Center.