By Brad Kellar
Greenville – A response of general denial has been issued by a New Orleans-based company in their defense of an illegal dumping lawsuit filed by the City of Commerce.
Fountainbleu Management Companies is alleged to have illegally dumped thousands of pounds in asbestos at a local landfill and buried even more on their apartment complex property site in Commerce.
But the company says the previous owners of the then Ponderosa Apartments are at fault. A fire in April 2008 destroyed one of the buildings of the complex at 2224 Live Oak Street. Attorneys for Foutainbleu, who filed the claim July 7, allege the city and state should have acted sooner.
The suit claims Foutainbleu is guilty of illegal dumping and polluting the environment and is in violation of the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act and the Clean Air Act.
No hearing dates have been set in the case.