HYANNIS — A Manhattan-based law firm is seeking clients who believe they may have been poisoned by contamination of the Hyannis water supply.
Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC began running advertisements on Facebook this week in connection with the planned class action.
The firm has created a website for the potential action: massachusettswater.napolilaw.com.
“It is not uncommon for these so-called mass tort law firms to reach out with public announcements to identify potential clients,” Barnstable Assistant Attorney Charles McLaughlin said.
Show more… Barnstable town officials have issued public health advisories for the Hyannis water system twice since 2015.
The chemicals are typically found in the types of firefighting foams that have been used in the past at the Barnstable County Fire and Rescue Training Academy and Barnstable Municipal Airport.
“This can happen very fast, in just a couple of weeks.” While water advisories in the Hyannis water supply area have been issued only in recent years, Caro suspects some residents may have had long-term exposure to the contaminants, since firefighting foams containing the contaminants could have been used for decades at the fire training academy and airport.
“We suspect it was significant.” She said there also are potential health dangers for those who drank the contaminated water for only a short period of time.
In addition, the town and county have filed separate lawsuits seeking damages from vendors of firefighting foams containing the toxic chemicals.
Most recently, the county went a step further and added Entergy Nuclear Generation Company, the Hyannis Fire District and the Barnstable County Fire Chiefs Association — all users of the fire training academy — as defendants in the case that has been brought by the town.