THE SIGNAL

“Landfill facing hundreds of claims”

First lawsuit 

While the bulk of the 289 cases listed online against Chiquita Canyon Landfill were filed after March 1, the first effort concerning the latest round of problems at Chiquita was filed Aug. 25 by Oshea Orchid, an attorney who also sits on the Castaic Area Town Council. 

Los Angeles County, which issued the conditional use permit that the landfill operates under, is listed as a co-defendant in both of the lawsuits represented by Sethi Orchid Miner LLP. 

Orchid said Tuesday in a phone interview the lawsuit has evolved since its initial filing as the number of plaintiffs has grown exponentially. 

“We initially filed this case as a class action to make sure that we included the entire community that was being affected, not just those who initially raised concerns about the Chiquita Canyon Landfill,” Orchid said. 

Initially, there were about 200 people signed up, she said. Ahead of an anticipated refiling, she’s talked to hundreds more. 

“Since our initial filing last August, public awareness of the seriousness of the situation has increased dramatically,” she wrote in a follow-up text. “We have been contacted by over a thousand community members to join the case, so we are no longer seeking to certify the class and will instead be including all of our clients in the next filings. We anticipate the number of people impacted to continue to increase throughout the case as the toxic gases coming from the landfill are being reported further from the site this year than in years past.” 

Orchid initially filed her case in L.A. County Superior Court, but attorneys for Chiquita successfully argued to have it moved to federal jurisdiction. One of the reasons cited in the landfill’s reasoning is that the size of a potential settlement could exceed $5 million. 

Orchid is also filing for a writ that’s seeking an injunction to shut down the landfill, which is due back in court June 5 for a case-management hearing.