A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the owners and operators of the Environmental Landfill, Inc., which has been the site of an underground fire that’s been burning for more than 50 days.

The suit accuses the landfill owners and operators of allowing the property to become an “illegal unauthorized dump site,” and that their negligence caused injury to plaintiffs in the form of smoke and smells entering their homes and bodies.

“The smoke and the smell are very impactful on your everyday life,” plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Ekonen told AL.com. “Depending upon the weather conditions in which way the winds blowing, you may go to bed, smelling that smoke, and then wake up smelling it, and it just kind of can can impact your entire day.”

Ekonen is an attorney at Birmingham-based personal injury firm Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC, which is representing the residents.

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Two residents who live near the landfill — Candice Jackson and Emmanuel Gomes — are named as plaintiffs in the suit, but Ekonen said they are recruiting other plaintiffs as well.

“We’re actively looking for anybody in the area that has been impacted by this and we’re signing up additional clients,” Ekonen said.

Repeated efforts by AL.com to reach the owners or operators of the landfill for comment have not been successful.

The lawsuit, filed last last month in the circuit court for St. Clair County, cites numerous inspection reports from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management which note the presence of unauthorized waste at the landfill, and describe the site as a fire hazard.

According to the lawsuit, both plaintiffs have suffered maladies including sore throats, eyes burning and shortness of breath. Both have purchased air purifiers and additional supplies to improve air quality in their homes and have suffered from not being able to go outside on their property and suffered mental anguish from worrying about the health of themselves and their families.

The lawsuit states that Gomes’ two children have asthma and have suffered from “severe asthma symptoms” since the fire began, around November 25.

“We’ve got a couple of people that are really solid citizens of the area, like Candy Jackson and her family and Manny Gomez and his family, and they’ve been impacted the same as everyone else that lives in the immediate area around the fire, which is why we think that it’s appropriate for class action,” Ekonen said.

The lawsuit names four entities as defendants:

• Environmental Landfill, Inc.
• Carol Russell, named trustee of the Scott Russell Management Trust, which owns the property
• Amy Rich, who according to the lawsuit is the sister of previous owner Scott Russell
• Charlie Rich, cited as an operator of the landfill in the lawsuit

Ekonen said that the named individuals had been served with the lawsuit and that they were attempting to serve the Environmental Landfill, Inc.

The defendants have not filed a response to the lawsuit as of Friday and it’s not clear who will represent them in the case.

Ekonen said the first priority is putting the fire out as quickly as possible.

“After that, we’re going to turn our attention to our litigation, and just see what we can do to try to get the people that have been affected by this made whole,” he said.

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Birmingham-area landfill fire still burns after 6 weeks