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Union Carbide Ordered to Pay $200,000 Clean Water Act Civil Penalty and Orders Landfill Cleanup in West Virginia “Open Dump” Case

After a 3-day remedy phase trial in February 2024, Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, issued two final judgments on September 27, 2024, ordering defendant Union Carbide Corporation to pay a $200,136 civil penalty for clean water act violations at its Filmont site in South Charleston, West Virginia, and ordering it to continue remediation at the site. The court also ordered Union Carbide to apply for stormwater discharge permits and ruled that plaintiff, The Courtland Company, Paladin’s client, was entitled to recover attorneys’ fees and costs under the fee-shifting provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act, related to the six years of litigation that is still ongoing. In 2023, the Court ruled that the Filmont site violated RCRA, constituting an illegal “open dump,” for discharges of arsenic to the surrounding environment.