No one has a right to pollute in the United States. The Clean Water Act grants polluters the privilege of discharging a set amount of pollution to the nation's waters, which is conditional upon complying with the limits outlined in a pollution permit issued by a governing agency. Any discharge of pollution to waters of the United States that does not comply with permit terms is illegal and a violation of federal law.
In 2022, problems at the Fleischmann’s Vinegar facility in Baltimore City resulted in the leaking of acidic pollution into the Jones Falls from the facility, likely causing significant fish kill events in the Jones Falls area. Fleischmann’s purports to be the world’s largest producer of commercial vinegar and is owned by Kerry Group, a multibillion dollar international company. Despite these vast resources, the company did not stop its leaking of acid into the Jones Falls, forcing CLA to step up and assist Blue Water Baltimore and its members in exercising their environmental rights under the Clean Water Act to halt this illegal pollution.
On behalf of our client, Blue Water Baltimore, we took Fleischmann’s and its parent companies to federal court to force them to stop the pollution, pay for the environmental damage, and take corrective actions to ensure further illegal pollution from the facility would not occur. CLA filed a Clean Water Act citizen suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. In April 2024, this case was resolved with the U.S. District Court’s entry of a federally enforceable Consent Decree that we successfully negotiated on behalf of Blue Water Baltimore.
In this Consent Decree Fleischmann's and its parent companies are required to pay approximately $1.1 million dollars to resolve the lawsuit, and we are excited to announce that the majority of this money is going back to the impacted Baltimore City community in the form of a grant program to support projects that improve water quality or restore aquatic habitat in the Jones Falls watershed.
CLA’s case also resulted in the State of Maryland suing and settling their own case against the companies in State court resulting in an additional Consent Decree with a settlement penalty of $1.2 million. Both CLA’s and the State’s Consent Decrees require corrective actions at the site to stop the pollution, and reporting and monitoring requirements to demonstrate that the pollution from the site has ceased. It is only when the monitoring demonstrates that there is no more illegal pollution entering the Jones Falls that the consent decrees will be terminated.
CLA is now monitoring the site's compliance with the consent decree to ensure that it is complied with, that the pollution is ceased and water quality is protected.
On April 4th, Chesapeake Legal Alliance and Saul Ewing, LLP, along with its client Blue Water Baltimore, announced a settlement agreement with Fleischmann’s Vinegar Company for alleged pollution violations into the Jones Falls, a local waterway in Baltimore which drains to the Inner Harbor.
The agreement comes after Blue Water Baltimore (“BWB”) filed a federal lawsuit against the company and Kerry Inc. a related company and Kerry Holding Co. its corporate parent, in 2023 for ongoing acetic acid discharges and other pollution after two fish kills were discovered in the Jones Falls. Under the agreement, Fleischmann’s has agreed to begin decommissioning activities at the facility immediately, continue monitoring in the Jones Falls to establish no more pollution is entering the waterway, and pay more than $1.3M to resolve the case, including $865,000 to fund environmentally beneficial projects to restore the Jones Falls stream, $25,000 in penalties to the U.S. Treasury, as well as funds to reimburse BWB for fees and costs associated with the case.
Chesapeake Legal Alliance filed suit on behalf of our client, Blue Water Baltimore, against Fleischmann’s Vinegar Company, Inc. and its parent company, Kerry Inc., for violations of the Clean Water Act. Fleischmann’s has been discharging pollutants, including acid, into the Jones Falls stream, a tributary to the Baltimore Harbor and tidal Patapsco River. There have been two documented fish kills near the Fleischmann’s Vinegar facility.
