A municipal water district whose 10 wells are allegedly threatened by contaminants from a series of gasoline spills in the 1980s and 1990s may pursue a dozen causes of action against the companies responsible for the spills even though the chemicals have not yet contaminated any wells, a Long Island, N.Y., judge has held.
“Although generally, ‘[c]onsequences which are contingent, speculative or merely possible are not properly considered in ascertaining injury, damages and appropriate remedy’ … this Court has already held … that a threatened injury may satisfy ‘the present injury requirement of the torts alleged if the threat is real,’” Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Kenneth A. Davis held in Plainview Water District v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 009975-01.
