Dive Brief:

• The city of New Orleans and operators of the Old Gentilly landfill have agreed to pay property owners $8 million to settle a class action suit.
• Land owners filed the lawsuit in 2007 after it was determined that a majority of the landfill site was owned by private residents, not the city. 
• Although 80% of the land was not owned by the city, it began using the landfill. New Orleans accepted waste that was then deposited at the site, while at the same time, it charged the private owners taxes on the land.  

Dive Insight:

A fund has been created in order to pay the property owners their share of the settlement, which works out to be around $1 per square foot of property, plus a flat fee. 

The settlement absolves the property owners from any responsibility in the future regarding potential environmental liabilities. The agreement also transfers full ownership of the property to the city of New Orleans.