News-Press
Class Action Lawsuit against Orange Tree Utility Co.
Dear residents of Waterways, Valencia, Orange Tree, Twin Eagles, and Citrus Green Communities; Corkscrew Elementary School, Corkscrew Middle School, and Palmetto Ridge High School:
Please be advised that Orange Tree Utility Co., which provides water service to your community, is currently under investigation for violation of safe drinking water standards.
More than 1,000 people from communities located in Collier County have been subjected to contaminated water containing high amounts of unsafe chemicals, including Waterways, Valencia, Orange Tree, Twin Eagles, Citrus Green, Corkscrew Elementary School, Corkscrew Middle School, and Palmetto Ridge High School. These chemicals are known to cause property damage including but not limited to bath tub, sink, toilets, and drinking glass discoloration and physical damage, as well as internal damage to plumbing system infrastructure.
These contaminants were documented by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), where they discovered Orange Tree Utility Co. water had more than five times the state standard for trihalomethanes and four times the state standard rate for haloacetic acid. They found that people who drink too many trihalomethanes over several years may experience problems with their livers, kidneys, or central nervous systems, as well as be susceptible to an increase risk of cancer, mutations, and birth defects. There are reported cases of resident pets developing similar ailments from drinking and bathing in the same polluted water source.
Concerned for their lives and the lives of their family pets, many residents purchased expensive water filtration devices, after their concerns were consistently ignored by Orange Tree Utility Co. The utility company was subsequently approved for a 45% rate increase for utility service on December 3, 2004 by the Collier County Water and Wastewater Authority, further increasing the financial hardship on local residents.
On December 22, 2004, Attorney Kelly Huang of Viles & Beckman, LLC filed the only class action lawsuit against Orange Tree Utility Co. in the state of Florida alleging the utility company ignored persistent complaints from its customers about the quality of the water, failed to properly monitor the water and failed to adequately warn customers about the quality of the water. The lawsuit seeks unspecified amounts for damages to cover medical bills, property damage, water filtration devices, loss of enjoyment of property, and a court-supervised program to monitor customer's health.
Please call if you are a customer of this utility company. We would like to discuss and address your specific property damages, loss of enjoyment of property, or physical or psychological ailments. Please call us at 1-800-64-Viles (1-800-648-4537). We can help.