Opponents of huge Alabama landfill fight company's $30m defamation suit
Source: The Guardian
Opponents of huge Alabama landfill fight company's $30m defamation suit
When residents of Uniontown protested at the dumping of 4m tons
of toxic coal ash in the poor, 91% black town, Green Group Holdings
sued them for slander
Matthew Teague, southern correspondent
Thursday 2 June 2016 18.42 BST
Residents in tiny Uniontown, Alabama, are locked in a legal battle against a company that has dumped millions of tons of coal ash there and then filed suit for defamation against those protesting against the act.
The residents formed a group, Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice, to fight the placement of a landfill filled with the coal ash in their town that they say threatens their health and constitutes a racial injustice. Uniontown is 91% black, and is among the poorest communities in the nation: half the residents live below the poverty line.
The company that owns the landfill, Georgia-based Green Group Holdings, has slapped four of the residents with a $30m lawsuit for defamation, objecting to the way they describe life on the edge of the 1,200-acre Arrowhead landfill.
On Thursday morning the American Civil Liberties Union – whose co-founder was a Uniontown native – filed a motion in federal court to dismiss the suit, saying it goes against “the very core of the first amendment”.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/02/uniontown-alabama-landfill-defamation-suit-green-group
