Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Friday ordered a hearing in a $2 billion environmental-contamination lawsuit filed by an East Arkansas farmer against former owners of a chemical plant.

The decision overturns a lower court ruling that threw the case out because the statute of limitations had run out.

Harry Stephens, owner of Harry Stephens Farms Inc. in Phillips County, filed the lawsuit in 2006 alleging Wormald Americas Inc., and Helena Chemical Co., former owners of a plant that was operated in the Helena-West Helena Industrial Park from 1970 to 2002, were responsible for contaminating soil and water at his farm.

The plant closed in 2002.

The lawsuit, which also named Exxon Mobile Chemical Co. as a defendant, sought $2 billion to pay for the costs of cleaning up the site.

During a hearing in federal court, a judge threw the case out, holding that the applicable Arkansas three-year statute of limitations barred the action for damages because it was filed on June 9, 2006.

In Friday’s decision, the appeal court judges agreed that there was a three year statute of limitations, but also that “a genuine issue remains as to whether (Stephens) knew or reasonably should have known before June 9, 2003, that the their property had suffered a remediable injury as a result of the defendant’s actions on neighboring property.”

The opinion noted that in 2004, Stephens was notified by a state agency that there were potentially unsafe levels of a contaminant in one of his irrigation wells and that he was asked to discontinue using the well until further notice.

“Thus, we conclude that there remains a genuine issue of material fact, which cannot be resolved without making credibility determinations, weighing evidence and drawing references against the non moving party,” the judges said in Friday’s ruling.