Strategic Lawyering Dioxin case in which associations of ecologists claimed that the Gilly-sur-Isère incinerator was responsible for causing cancers
In the dioxin case in which associations of ecologists claimed that the Gilly-sur-Isère incinerator was responsible for causing cancers because of dioxin fumes, Jean-Luc Soulier and Stéphanie Staeger represent the former president of the intercommunal syndicate which owns the incinerator who was charged with endangering other people’s life. On October 26, 2007, the investigating judge dismissed the case.
Appeals have been lodged by plaintiffs against this dismissal order but the Investigating Chamber of the Chambery Court of Appeals reject the vast majority of such appeals. In addition, in a judgment dated November 22, 2007, the Court of Appeals of Lyon, ruling following referral from the Cour de Cassation (French supreme court) held that several plaintiffs who based their claim exclusively on the fact that they lived near the incinerator for a certain time were not entitled to join the procedure.
Thomas Caveng
Legal Translator / Marketing Director