KANSAS CITY – Lona Leanne Grosshart filed a demand for jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri against Kansas City Power & Light Company, alleging she developed severe health problems after using water contaminated by a nearby power plant.
The court claims personal jurisdiction over the case because KCP&L is a Missouri corporation with its principal place of business in the state.
Grosshart alleges KCP&L's coal-powered electric power plant, the La Cygne Generating Station, polluted a nearby aquifer that Grosshart's family used on the nearby farm they own.
The pollution in the water caused Grosshart to develop Sjögren’s Syndrome – an incurable autoimmune disease that allegedly has left her bedridden and unable to work.
In March 2017, Grosshart's doctor opined that she contracted Sjögren’s Syndrome from "her exposure to the heavy metals and related contaminants found at the farm," according to court documents.
Grosshart contends she only learned the power plant caused her health problems because her mother, Mary Coffman, met a whistleblower in the course of her work as a Realtor. The unnamed whistleblower told Coffman the power plant was getting ready to convert to a gas-powered plant because it had learned the exhaust emitted from the smokestacks contained heavy metals that were settling on land and in the water.
The complaint alleges KCP&L allowed over a 40-plus-year period "large quantities of heavy metals and other chemical contaminants, including arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, uranium, sulfates, and sulfites to be released into the ambient air," according to court documents.
The complaint further alleges Grosshart will suffer "serious medical and financial consequences due to her exposure, including the loss of enjoyment of life and happiness, lost wages and earnings, substantial past and future medical expenses, and the potential loss of her life," according to court documents.
Grosshart's attorneys, John Edgar and Matthew Limoli, filed the complaint April 23.