June 24 Witt Sewer Lawsuit Ends With City Paying Attorney Fees and Fines Reduced Through Negotiations

The Witt Sewer Lawsuit appears to be at an end. 

Last year, Federal District Judge Ronnie Greer ruled in favor of the Witt residents, ordering the City to repair the Witt sewer line, make monetary payments to two Witt residents, pay attorney fees of the Witt residents' attorney Gary Davis, and pay fines for violations of the Clean Water Act. Click here and here.

The City appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals but later entered into negotiations with the Witt residents--negotiations that recently resulted in an agreed settlement with a reduction of the attorney fees and fine.

In the video (above) City Administrator Tony Cox reports that Federal District Judge Ronnie Greer approved the negotiated settlement of the attorney fees that will be paid by the City to the Witt residents' attorney and approved a reduced fine to be paid to the US Treasury for the City's violations of the Clean Water Act.

The City will finish the repair work on the Witt sewer line and will also make the monetary payment to two of the Witt residents.

June 6, 2012 Lakemoore Residents Demand Action To Address 30+ Years of Sewer Odors

A large group of Lakemoore residents showed up at the City Council meeting yesterday to present their concerns and to demand that action be taken on the decades-old sewer odor problems in that area.

Here is the presentation of a petition from the Lakemoore residents to council which was followed by several individual requests for help.

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.

April 2, 2008 Witt-Roe Junction Residents Sue City of Morristown

After sending a 60-day notice of intent to sue, several residents of the Witt-Roe Junction area have filed a lawsuit naming the City of Morristown as Defendant in connection with sewer odors in the Witt-Roe Junction area.

These residents previously filed suit against Koch Foods claiming various damages due to persistent sewer odors.

If you sign up for PACER, you can view the court documents for a charge of .08/page. But if you can wait a few days, you can save your money. I'll post more specifics--including the suit--in the next few days.