GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — More than six months after learning their wells were contaminated with a likely carcinogen, some residents on Friday watched as the accused culprit, Wolverine Worldwide, had its first day in court.
"That's what I think everybody wants is just their day in court," said Sandy Wynn-Stelt, whose well is rich with PFAS.
More than 100 neighbors in the Belmont and Rockford areas, including Wynn-Stelt, have sued Wolverine, claiming the contamination has caused them harm.
Some have claimed the contamination caused their cancers, caused miscarriages and led to three deaths.
They include the death of 6-week-old Hunter Naffziger in May 2015, and the death of Wynn-Stelt's husband, Joel, who died of liver cancer a year and a half ago. He drank water from the most contaminated wells near Wolverine's old House Street dump.
Wolverine Worldwide attorneys on Friday asked a judge to delay the cases, arguing there's no hurry.
"The plaintiffs in these cases have safe drinking water," provided by Wolverine, the company's attorney James Moskal told the judge.
He argued the cases should be part of a separate federal class-action already filed.
But Kent County Circuit Judge George Quist disagreed.
"We need to move the ball forward," the judge said.
It's just the beginning of a fight that is likely to take months, if not years.
PFAS is a likely carcinogen that was in the Scotchgard Wolverine used to treat shoes at its Rockford tannery, and it was in the sludge the company dumped decades ago.
It has spread to pollute hundreds of wells in an area that has grown to six miles long by five miles wide — in Plainfield and Algoma townships and into the city of Rockford.
The judge also ordered Wolverine to start turning over documents to attorneys for the residents.
"We're eager to get moving and get information," the residents' attorney Aaron Phelps said after the hearing. "It's really just about disclosure and transparency. Let's see the documents so we know what happened and what people knew and when they knew it.
"There are issues about why this wasn't disclosed earlier when a lot of this could have been prevented," Phelps said.
He pointed to a 1999 letter from Scotchgard-maker 3M to Wolverine, first revealed by 24 Hour News 8, that addressed some of the potential hazards of PFAS. Wolverine had earlier said it didn't know that the Scotchgard it used contained PFAS.
In court documents, Wolverine attorneys accused the residents' attorneys of "causing unwarranted fear and anxiety regarding their plaintiffs' and our community's drinking water.
"For months now, Varnum LLP has subjected our community to client recruitment and public relation strategies designed to create and drive fear and anxiety," Wolverine's attorneys alleged. "Our community deserves the truth regarding the status of its drinking water. Varnum LLP is not giving them the truth."
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