DENVER, Colorado — For decades, the smell emanating from the Nestle Purina pet food plant north of downtown Denver has long been a reality. Now, a lawsuit seeking damages from the company continues to make its way through a federal court in Colorado.
9NEWS covered the lawsuit in May, which alleges the plant has caused property values to drop in areas around in the plant because of the horrid smell. A law firm is attempting to establish class-action status in the lawsuit that could impact potentially more than 2,000 households nearby.
The plant, which has been in the neighborhood since the 1930s, is located near I-70 and Brighton. Over the last several years, some neighbors have filed official complaints about the odor with city and state officials.
This month, attorneys for Nestle Purina filed their official answer to the class-action attempt and denied all claims in a 35 page filing.
In one of the responses, the plant’s attorneys wrote, “Many putative class members acquired their properties with full knowledge that the properties were located near industrial and manufacturing facilities, including, but not limited to, NPPC’s Facility.”
Nestle Purina attorneys cite 14 affirmative defenses in their response and refer to the smell as “subjective”, but also raise the question whether the plant itself is solely responsible for the “highly odiferous” environment.
9NEWS Legal Expert Whitney Traylor reviewed the lawsuit and the response by Nestle Purina. He said it appears the legal team for the pet food plant is doing everything it can to raise doubts about the claims.
Traylor anticipated a long legal battle that would likely end with a settlement.
“There’s all these variables and this is why litigation is so expensive and takes so long because you’re gonna have to get experts,” Traylor said. “There’s going to be a lot of discovery. This is actually going to be somewhat of a complicated case because the defendants are going to try and say, 'Well, it really wasn’t all us. Your nose may be overly sensitive.'”
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