CLA and Blue Water Baltimore Announce Agreement to Resolve Pollution in the Jones Falls

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.

Read the full press release below: