McCastle v. Rollins Environmental Services

The people involved in the suit look at the way in which their community was disproportionately impacted by toxic waste polluters in light of their race and class, in comparison to communities that are composed of people who are racially and economically privileged and advocated for more considerate treatment by state regulators and operators of waste disposal plants.

Cancer Alley is the 107 mile stretch along the Mississippi River that runs between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Due to historical racism, people of color did not have a lot of political and social power and were unable to challenge the ways in which their communities were being changed.

[10] William Fontenot, an environmental advocate, met with McCastle and a group of community members at her house in her living room to talk about the pollution that was creating the poisonous fumes.

[11] Willie Fontenot was the one who linked the community group to the lawyers that would be able to help them push their lawsuit through the court system.

This group of plaintiffs claimed that Rollins was land farming sludge that was being produced by Exxon Corporation.

This pollution was causing a host of health issues within the community such as "headaches, chronic fatigue, cancer, and spontaneous nosebleeds".

[12] Mary McCastle, a 75-year-old grandmother, and a number of other local residents were determined to protect the health rights of other members within their communities.

[14] Even though residents were invited to watch Rollins Environmental Services clean up the waste that they had disposed of inappropriately, they didn't see much of the cleanup getting done.

Consequently, the group of residents followed up and filed a lawsuit on behalf of community members who had been adversely impacted.

[15] A group of residents that lived in Alsen, an East Baton Rouge Parish, and Louisiana filed a lawsuit against a chemical land farming operation, Rollins Environmental Services.

They lived adjacent or in close proximity of the Rollins center and claimed that the land farming "had polluted the air and caused them injury.

One was class certification and the other was to obtain damages and an injunction for the Rollins facility to stop their operation which was polluting the community.

The appeals court didn't think that dealing with the claims of the members of the community together would create judicial economy.

In order to determine whether it was appropriate to deem the people involved in this case should be part of a larger class, the court went through a process of analysis.

[18] -Effecting Substantive law [19] -Judicial efficiency [20] -Individual fairness [21] Through walking through these claims, the court determined that it was practical for litigation to proceed as a class.

[21] Under the authority of 28 USCS § 1441, the court was able to assert the injunction so that the facility would stop emitting toxic fumes into the atmosphere.

[8] Mary McCastle would then prove to be a role model for African-American environmental activists in Louisiana years after the Rollins case was litigated and settled.

One legacy of the environmental justice movement in Alsen was the fight against Supplemental Fuels incorporated (SFI).

Although the company tried to locate its facilities in a community where they thought that people would not fight back, they were met by opposing black and white forces.