Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993 TAG: 9305050122
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Marc Long, who represents M.E. McMurray Inc., owners of the service station, has filed papers denying that Mac or Mike McMurray bear any responsibility. Long also has filed a cross-claim against Exxon, stating that if any damages have occurred Exxon should bear the financial responsibility, not the present owners.
The McCoys own residential and business property at 204 S. Main St.; Blacksburg Exxon Servicenter is at 210 S. Main.
Exxon owned the service station until Sept. 18, when it was sold to McMurray Inc.
"We feel like this problem existed before my client bought the property - if there is a problem," Long said Tuesday.
"If there is a problem, we feel like it's Exxon's problem."
The McMurrays are "very disappointed that their neighbors sued them," he said. Long said the McMurrays' mother was buried by the McCoy Funeral Home.
In its response to the suit, Exxon "denies that it is responsible for endangering the public health, welfare and environment" or that the McCoys have "suffered any damages as a result of any actions taken by Exxon."
Jim Hutton of Blacksburg, one of three lawyers representing Exxon, said there had been several gas stations in the area and the funeral home must prove Exxon's was at fault for any damages to its property.
The suit alleges that during Exxon Corp.'s ownership, "numerous releases of petroleum occurred . . . into the ground water, surface water and on the lands and subsurface soils," contaminating the property. Further, contaminated soil and ground water have filled the funeral home and the McCoy residence with vapors, rendering the property worthless, the suit says.
The suit alleges that the station failed to use appropriate monitoring techniques, failed to replace the underground storage tanks in a timely manner, and failed to adequately clean up the releases.
The suit asks for $5 million in punitive damages and up to $8 million in actual damages to the property and the McCoys. Mac McMurray, co-owner of the station, had said earlier that underground storage tanks were replaced in 1985. "We've had an ongoing problem and Exxon was rectifying it as far as I knew," McMurray said shortly after the suit was filed.
by CNB