Callahan & Blaine

Callahan & Blaine filed a lawsuit in Alameda Superior Court against Newmont Mining Corporation, and its subsidiary companies, for exposing two children to toxic levels of lead, arsenic and cadmium which were present in the soil of a Grass Valley property. Lead, arsenic and cadmium are known to cause lifelong neurological, developmental and health problems in young children. The children were exposed to the toxic chemicals when the company rented a property it owned to the children’s parents.

According to the lawsuit, Newmont Mining Corporation polluted the soil on the Grass Valley property with toxic chemicals when the company mined for gold in the early part of the 20th century. Under the law, Newmont Mining Corporation was not allowed to rent the property to the family because of the toxic levels of the chemicals in the soil. Newmont Mining Corporation lied to the family when it represented that the property was a safe place for the family to live, according to the lawsuit. Because of the company’s negligence, the family’s two children have suffered permanent developmental and neurological deficiencies, which will affect them for the rest of their lives.

The family is seeking monetary damages for the lifelong neurological, developmental and health problems which the children will face as a result of the toxic exposure. The lawsuit is also seeking punitive damages because Newmont Mining Corporation, and its subsidiary companies, apparently knew that the property’s soil was contaminated with toxic substances when the company rented the property, but concealed this information from the family.

Daniel J. Callahan of Callahan & Blaine, counsel for the family, stated that, “It is appalling that Newmont Mining Corporation rented a home to a family which the company knew was polluted, and which should never have been rented to this family. Newmont Mining Corporation knew that it was placing these children into harm’s way. Now, two little girls’ lives have been forever changed because of their exposure to these chemicals.”