{"id":15438,"date":"2010-04-08T08:37:28","date_gmt":"2010-04-08T14:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=15438"},"modified":"2010-04-08T14:54:25","modified_gmt":"2010-04-08T20:54:25","slug":"jury-orders-activist-to-pay-75k-to-chemical-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/04\/jury-orders-activist-to-pay-75k-to-chemical-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury orders activist to pay $75K to chemical company"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Arturo Uribe, shown refereeing a congressional candidate forum in Mesquite in 2008. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Activist groups call verdict in defamation lawsuit a blow to free speech<\/h4>\n

Activists were quick to decry a Do\u00f1a Ana County jury\u2019s verdict in favor of Helena Chemical Company<\/a> in a civil defamation lawsuit as a \u201cstunning blow against free speech\u201d \u2013 and worse.<\/p>\n

Helena\u2019s attorney, on the other hand, told the jury before it issued its ruling that the verdict could be the first step in repairing the company\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

The jury ordered Mesquite community activist Arturo Uribe to pay Helena $75,000 in punitive damages for harming the company\u2019s reputation, and also dismissed a counterclaim by Uribe, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From the newspaper:<\/p>\n

\u201cHelena Chemical Co. sued Uribe – whose family lives across the street from a warehouse where the company stores and blends fertilizer – for statements made to the media and for slides he showed containing photos of a Texas City, Texas industrial accident and a child born with six fingers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Uribe had claimed Helena was retaliating because of a pending negligence lawsuit the Uribes and others have filed against Helena claiming their health has suffered as a result of the company\u2019s actions. The state has fined Helena nearly half a million dollars in recent years for environmental violations, most relating to air quality.<\/p>\n

In a posting<\/a> on its Web site, Clearly New Mexico called the jury\u2019s ruling \u201ca stunning blow against free speech.\u201d In prior postings<\/a>, Clearly New Mexico had called Helena\u2019s lawsuit a \u201c\u2018SLAPP suit\u2019<\/a> \u2013 a \u2018strategic lawsuit against public participation,\u2019 which is intended to censor and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCorporations can afford extended litigation \u2013 community activists can\u2019t,\u201d a posting<\/a> on the group\u2019s Web site states.<\/p>\n

In a news release, SouthWest Organizing Project<\/a> went much further, saying the verdict \u201cis an outrageous travesty of justice\u201d and the situation in Mesquite \u201cis textbook environmental racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArturo\u2019s families\u2019 house is literally across the street from the Helena Chemical Co.\u00a0There is nowhere that his children can play that won\u2019t expose them to the smell of the chemicals coming out of that plant,\u201d SWOP\u2019s Tom\u00e1s Gardu\u00f1o said in the release. \u201c\u2026This type of citing of toxic industries in working class communities of color is no mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe companies think that because we have very little resources and poor access to our government that we won\u2019t stand up for ourselves,\u201d Gardu\u00f1o said. \u201cArturo, his family and his community are continuing a long tradition of proving those multi-national corporations wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

An empowering situation<\/h3>\n

In fact, after attending a meeting Uribe and other community activists hosted in 2007 in preparation for the lawsuit against Helena, I wrote that Mesquite was leading the way<\/a> in empowering Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019s south valley:<\/p>\n

\u201cWere there any doubt, their growing level of activity and organization was apparent on Thursday evening, when more than 65 people showed up to a community meeting to discuss the possibility of suing\u00a0Helena Chemical Company\u00a0in an apparent attempt to chase it out of town.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Mesquite\u00a0is a community that has historically allowed itself to be ignored by government. That began to change a few years ago when a handful of educated individuals in the area decided to stand up to perceived problems with\u00a0Helena.<\/p>\n

\u201cFair or not (there\u2019s a strong possibility that a lawsuit will eventually determine that), many residents believe the company\u2019s pollution has led to all sorts of health problems, including high instances of cancer, asthma and babies being born with extra fingers and toes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

State officials have listened to the activists in Mesquite. In one news release announcing some of the violations committed by Helena, Environment Department Deputy Secretary Cindy Padilla said Helena \u201cpotentially put residents at risk by failing to monitor pollutants from the plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, Environment Secretary Ron Curry was quoted by Tracy Dingmann, a Clearly New Mexico writer, in an interview for the New Mexico Independent<\/a> as stating that Helena seemed \u201cresistant to trying to improve the way they do business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are unique as a company so far as that, in my tenure as secretary, I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve come across a company that is so unwilling to do the right thing,\u201d Curry was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

\u2018The first step in Helena trying to repair its reputation\u2019<\/h3>\n

Regardless, Wednesday\u2019s verdict came after Helena\u2019s attorney, Robert L. Soza Jr., told the jury that Uribe\u2019s accusations \u201care not defensible, not fact-based. They\u2019re fear-based,\u201d according to the Sun-News. Soza cited studies by specialists who said the air and water quality are good, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

According to the newspaper, Soza told the jury that Uribe \u201chas the right to an opinion … what he doesn\u2019t have a right to do is lie about us, imply we cause health problems and birth defects.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Uribe\u2019s attorney, Linda Thomas, told the jury that if Helena\u2019s reputation had been harmed, \u201cit has not been because of Mr. Uribe. It has been because of their own actions and the bad press they received for failing to follow environmental laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soza told the jury, before it issued its ruling, that its verdict \u201ccould be the first step in Helena trying to repair its reputation,\u201d according to the Sun-News.<\/p>\n

An attorney for Helena wrote in an e-mail that a company spokeswoman would be contacting NMPolitics.net shortly to make a statement.<\/p>\n

Update, 9:50 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Helena said this in a news release:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling is very important to Helena and our neighbors – it was only without interference from Mr.\u00a0 Uribe\u2019s pattern of lies that we were able to discuss the true nature of our operations,\u201d said Louis Rodrigue, vice president of Helena\u2019s southern business unit. \u201cWe had the opportunity to provide factual information to a jury in open court and they agreed that Mr. Uribe has been spreading falsehoods about our operations and injured our reputation. The truth is Helena is not adversely impacting air quality, drinking water quality or the health of the citizens of Mesquite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jury\u2019s decision in this case is a win for the community in Mesquite and we hope it finally gives them the peace of mind that we are not causing health impacts as falsely stated by Mr. Uribe,\u201d he said. \u201cThe falsehoods and rumors spread over the years may have affected our reputation, but not our commitment to the community. We are grateful that we received damages because it holds Mr. Uribe accountable for his\u00a0irresponsible, reckless and untruthful comments and actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company added that \u201ca portion\u201d of the damages received will go to a\u00a0charitable organization that\u00a0serves southern New Mexico.<\/p>\n

For full disclosure, in January 2009 I was asked by Helena and agreed to provide an affidavit in this case stating that I attended the 2007 community meeting in Mesquite after having been invited by Uribe, that the meeting was open to the public, and that I published <\/em>a Dec. 17, 2007 article<\/em><\/a> about the meeting. I agreed to provide the affidavit only because Helena didn\u2019t ask me to take a side in or state an opinion about the case. The company simply asked me to affirm facts about my news gathering and reporting that were true.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Activists were quick to decry a Do\u00f1a Ana County jury\u2019s verdict in favor of Helena Chemical Company in a civil defamation lawsuit as a \u201cstunning blow against free speech\u201d \u2013 and worse. Helena\u2019s attorney, on the other hand, told the jury before it issued its ruling that the verdict could be the first step in repairing the company\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[115,147],"class_list":["post-15438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}