"There are a lot of different theories," said Mark R. Rosen, the Philadelphia lawyer who filed the suit in Camden County Superior Court. "We just did enough investigation that we know we had a client. Now we just have to find what we can prove."
The suit seeks triple damages for losses that homeowners contend they incurred by reduced values of the homes and for emotional distress they contend the presence of the landfill has caused. The suit also demands that Canuso set up a fund to finance periodical medical testing for residents.
Canuso denied yesterday that the landfill had caused any contamination problems in the landscaped subdivision between Cooper and Gibbsboro-Milford Roads, where homes sell for as much as $300,000.
"There's nothing proven as far as any health hazards," he said. "The only problem with these kinds of landfills is perception, and nothing else."
In addition to Canuso and his development firms, the Canuso Management Corp. and the Canetic Corp., the suit names Fox & Lazo Realtors Inc. of Haddonfield as defendants. The real estate brokers marketed the homes for Canuso.
The suit is the latest action in an escalating dispute that began last fall when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection notified the landfill's owners that they must determine whether toxins are migrating from the dump.
The DEP's notification alerted the subdivision's residents, some of whom live within 500 feet of the landfill and were unaware of its existence. A few residents began investigating previous studies of the landfill by state and federal environmental inspectors.
