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General Electric cancer lawsuit overview:
- Who: Crystal Czerno filed a lawsuit against General Electric Co., GE Plastics, Monsanto Co., Solutia Inc., Pharmacia LLC, Bayer AG, three SABIC Innovative Plastics companies and Saudi Basic Industries Corp.
- Why: Czerno claims the defendants caused her nine-year-old son to develop acute leukemia by allegedly dumping chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls in their hometown of Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
- Where: The lawsuit was filed in Berkshire County Superior Court of Massachusetts.
A 9-year-old boy in Massachusetts is suffering from acute leukemia due to General Electric allegedly dumping chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in his hometown in Berkshire County, a new lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Crystal Czerno, the boy’s mother, claims General Electric uses the area of Berkshire County, Massachusetts — including the Housatonic River — as a “dumping ground” for the “toxic and cancerous” PCBs.
Czerno argues the PCBs allegedly dumped by General Electric caused her 9-year-old son, identified as C.L., to develop acute leukemia as a result of “continuous exposure to PCBs both at home and at his school.”
In addition to General Electric, the Massachusetts mother also named Monsanto Co., Solutia Inc., Pharmacia LLC, Bayer AG, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and three SABIC Innovative Plastics companies as defendants in the lawsuit.
“The defendants have known (that PCBs are toxic, dangerous, carcinogenic, and harmful to humans) for decades yet have consciously disregarded this knowledge for the sake of profiting off the backs of the hardworking people of this county,” the General Electric lawsuit states.
Boy’s acute leukemia ‘direct result’ of General Electric, others dumping chemicals, lawsuit says
Czerno claims her son’s exposure to PCBs has nearly killed him and required him to undergo “multiple rounds of chemotherapy, full body radiation, multiple stem cell transplants, and multiple bone marrow biopsies.”
The boy has also acquired multiple fungal infections “which have spread to and riddled his brain, lungs, spleen, liver, and skin,” as a result of his exposure to PCBs, according to the General Electric lawsuit.
Czerno argues her son’s leukemia diagnosis is a “direct result” of General Electric and the other named defendants’ “egregious, negligent, wrongful, and reckless conduct” in their “manufacture, sale, creation, distribution, pollution, contamination, dumping, and disposal” of PCBs.
Claims against General Electric and the other defendants collectively include allegations of fraud, negligence, and private and public nuisance, among other things, and of violating the Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention and Response Act.
The plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and requesting an award of compensatory and punitive damages.
In another case involving General Electric, the company agreed to a settlement last October that was made to resolve claims it failed to prevent a 2020 data breach.
Do you believe you have been harmed by PCBs? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Thomas E. Bosworth of Bosworth Law LLC and John B. Stewart of John B. Stewart PC.
The General Electric cancer lawsuit is Czerno, et al. v. General Electric Co., et al, Case No. 2376CV00140, in the Berkshire County Superior Court of Massachusetts.
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