Camden residents seek compensation for scrap metal recycler’s fires and other impacts through class action lawsuit

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Camden residents are seeking compensation through a class action lawsuit for what they claim are “noxious emissions” and other impacts from EMR’s scrap metal facilities.

A group of lawyers filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of three residents, Sandra Wiles, Celestine Wallace and Deandra Smith, the day before a two-alarm fire broke out at EMR’s scrap metal shredding facility along the Delaware River on May 29. Kevin Riechelson, a lawyer with the law firm Cohen & Riechelson that is representing the plaintiffs, said EMR’s repeated fires have interfered with residents’ use of their properties.

“A lot of it is odor. It’s particulates. It’s soot,” he said. “A lot of people say they can’t open their windows. They can’t use their front yards. They can’t use their backyards. Some people don’t want their kids outside.”

EMR’s facilities in Camden, where the company purchases, shreds, separates and exports scrap metal including junk cars, old appliances and construction debris, have been the site of over a dozen fires since 2020, according to a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General earlier this year.

Following the May 29 fire, city, county and state elected officials called for EMR’s facility to be shut down. The city of Camden suspended the company’s junkyard license at its shredder site earlier this month, ordering it to stop operating. EMR then sued the city over the suspension, arguing it was “groundless” and arguing it deprived the company of due process.

The residents’ lawsuit also accuses EMR of negligence for failing to adequately control odors and particulate emissions and adequately screen and remove batteries and other flammable substances from its materials. EMR has pointed to the proliferation of flammable lithium-ion batteries in consumer products as the cause of its fires.

Before the lawsuit can move forward as a class action suit, the court must certify the class, which the lawyers say could include up to thousands of residents in a roughly 1-mile radius of EMR’s facilities.

EMR USA’s CEO and general counsel did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

In a letter to Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen following the May 29 fire, EMR USA CEO Joe Balzano wrote that, “Being a good neighbor and operating safely within this community is an essential priority for EMR, not simply a regulatory obligation, but a genuine commitment to the people of Camden.” He said the company had invested millions of dollars to install a fire suppression system completed this spring, and in an interview in May, said the company was planning to install a more protective pollution control device on the shredder.

Several dozen people attended a meeting Tuesday at the Camden County library branch on Ferry Avenue to learn more about the suit.

Jean Coley, who lives about a block away from EMR’s junkyard on Sixth Street, wants to join. She said she hopes the suit results in compensation for residents.

“It’s like seven days a week they’re bringing in the junk,” she said. “The trucks are damaging our streets.”

Riechelson said that during Tuesday’s meeting, roughly 40 people filled out forms to indicate their interest in the case and described how EMR has impacted their lives.

“The fires, not being able to go outside, … debris coming down from the sky onto the apartment,” Riechelson said. “One of the things that we heard a lot tonight at the meeting was the vibrations of the trucks going down the street are causing really bad vibrations of the houses, some of them are damaging the foundations.”

If the court certifies the class, Riechelson said the lawyers will send out letters to people living within the roughly 1-mile radius of EMR. Residents can then choose to opt in or out of the lawsuit. If they choose to opt in, they could receive some compensation if a settlement is reached, he said.

Riechelson said the lawsuit not only seeks monetary damages, but also to force operational changes that would reduce EMR’s impact on nearby properties.

“The best case scenario is that some kind of agreement is reached so that they fix the problem,” he said.

Timothy Futch lives about six blocks from EMR’s Sixth Street junkyard, which has been the site of at least four fires since 2020, according to the state’s lawsuit. Futch said he was diagnosed with asthma a few years ago and coughs up mucus each morning. He believes his symptoms are related to EMR’s repeated fires.

“We need to really get compensated for it, because this is my life,” he said.