Federal Court Limits Scope of Claims in VOC Contamination Case

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A California federal court has limited the scope of a number of claims in a benzene contamination lawsuit, finding that the majority of the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue because of their failure to test the soil they claim was harmed by landfill releases. Crane-McNab, et al. v. County of Merced, No. 08-1218 (E.D. Calif.).

In the Oct. 13 opinion, however, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California allowed the claims of one plaintiff to proceed, saying that questions of fact remained as to whether volatile organic compounds migrated to the plaintiffs' property. …