Tag: Gary Southern

Residents to Get Share of $73 Million from Water Crisis Settlement

People affected by a 2014 chemical spill into a West Virginia river will soon receive their first batch of settlement checks from a class-action lawsuit.

U.S. District Court Judge John Copenhaver approved the distribution of the $73 million to nearly 200,000 residents and businesses.

Anthony Majestro is a lawyer for the residents and says the checks will go in the mail on Sept. 14 or Sept. 17. They’ll include an additional $1 million from former Freedom Industries President Gary Southern.

The residents and businesses sued after a chemical known as Crude MCHM spilled from a storage tank at Freedom Industries into the Elk River. It was upriver from a water plant in Charleston and people were told not to drink or clean with the water for days.

Chemical Spill Exec Urges Settlement Approval in Lawsuit

The executive in charge during a water-tainting chemical spill in 2014 wants a judge to approve his class-action lawsuit settlement.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that on Tuesday, ex-Freedom Industries official Gary Southern asked U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver in Charleston to approve his settlement.

Under the agreement, Southern would pay $350,000 to resolve claims in the January 2014 leak, which spurred a do-not-use order on 300,000 people’s tap water for days.

Southern was sentenced 30 days in prison for related criminal pollution violations.

The class-action still targets West Virginia American Water, Eastman Chemical and ex-Freedom official Dennis Farrell for various roles in the Charleston spill.

Lawyers for affected residents and businesses who sued have urged for approval of Southern’s settlement since December 2015.

The trial date is Oct. 25.

Former Freedom Industries Executive's Financial Information Being Scrutinized By Federal Judge

A judge says he wants more information before he’ll approve a class-action settlement stemming from a 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia that contaminated drinking water supplies.

The case involves Kanawha Valley residents and businesses and two former top officials from Freedom Industries.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver told lawyers in the case Friday that he wants more details about the finances of one of the former Freedom officials — longtime company co-owner Dennis Farrell.

The judge also wants more details about whether Farrell and former Freedom President Gary Southern remain targeted in any other lawsuits that also could be settled.

The judge told the attorneys to get back to him about those matters by May 13.

Former Freedom Industries Executive Gary Southern Sentenced to a Month in Jail, $20,000 Fine

  A former executive with direct oversight of a West Virginia chemical tank farm that leaked and fouled a drinking water supply has been sentenced to one month in federal prison.

Gary Southern also was fined $20,000 Wednesday in federal court in Charleston.

Southern was the last of six ex-Freedom Industries officials sentenced on pollution charges.

Four others were sentenced to probation; a fifth also received a one-month prison term. The company, which filed for bankruptcy eight days after the spill, was fined $900,000, although the judge said the fine was symbolic due to the company’s liquidation.

The January 2014 spill of a coal-cleaning agent into the Elk River in Charleston got into a water company’s intake and prompted a tap-water ban for 300,000 people for up to 10 days.

 

Ex-Freedom Industries Exec Set for Sentencing in Chem Spill

A former executive with direct oversight of a West Virginia chemical tank farm that leaked and fouled the local drinking water supply in 2014 is due in court for sentencing.

Gary Southern is the last of six ex-Freedom Industries officials to be sentenced on pollution charges. He is set to appear Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Charleston.

Southern faces the harshest penalty: up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines. Federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of 21 to 27 months. The defense sought no prison time.

Four other former officials were sentenced to probation; a fifth received a one-month prison term.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy eight days after the spill, was fined $900,000, although a judge said it was symbolic due to the company’s liquidation.

Sentencing Set for Ex-Execs in W.Va. Chemical Spill

Six former Freedom Industries officials are set to be sentenced this month on pollution charges two years after a chemical spill into the Elk River in Charleston fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West Virginians.

The first to be sentenced are ex-Freedom plant manager Michael Burdette on Monday and environmental consultant Robert Reynolds on Wednesday. Each faces up to a year in prison and a minimum $2,500 fine.

The company itself faces up to $900,000 in fines. Sentencings also are later this month for ex-Freedom officials William Tis, Charles Herzing, Dennis Farrell and, lastly, Gary Southern.

Southern faces the harshest penalty: up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines.

Ex-U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says the spill was “a wake-up call” to the vulnerability of tap water systems.

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