Last year, Robin and Dexter Baptiste sued the Bethlehem Landfill Company on behalf of themselves and other residents of Freemansburg, PA, which had faced uncontained noxious odors from a landfill site. They asserted claims of public nuisance, private nuisance, and negligence. The District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed the suit, holding that the Baptistes and their neighbors could not file a private nuisance claim because the odors affected a widespread area and a large group of people.

On July 13, in a precedential decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed the decision, ruling that the private nuisance claim was valid under Pennsylvania law and sending the case back to District Court.  In its decision, the Court cited an amicus brief we filed in the case--joined by Philly Thrive and represented by pro bono counsel from Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C.--detailing the importance of private nuisance for communities that have faced environmental racism.

Private nuisance claims, we argued in our brief, have for centuries given homeowners and renters a tool for resisting pollution generated within their communities.

"Communities that suffer most from pollution are disproportionately poor," our brief reads. "Without the ability to pursue private nuisance as a class, individual members of those communities often lack the knowledge and resources to vindicate their rights against polluters."