Farmington is a city in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 37,844. The Census Bureau's 2006 population estimate for the city is 43,573. Farmington is located at the junction of the San Juan, Animas, and La Plata rivers, on the Colorado Plateau in the northwest part of the San Juan Basin. It is the principal city of the Farmington, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area, and serves as a hub for much of northwestern New Mexico and the Four Corners region. Farmington is known across New Mexico and throughout the southwest for its baseball and the Ricketts Ball Park, Home of the Connie Mack World Series. Farmington High School claimed the AAAA Baseball State Championship four years in a row from 2005-2008. Primary industries are natural gas, coal, and oil. Major coal mines are operated by BHP Billiton 15 to 19 miles (24 to 31 km) southwest of Farmington, and the coal is used for nearby electric power generation at the Four Corners Power Plant. A new coal-fired electric power-generating plant has been proposed in 2006 for the same area. The site of a 1967 underground nuclear test called "Gasbuggy", part of Operation Plowshare, was in the Carson National Forest about 50 miles (80 km) east of Farmington and about 25 miles (40 km) south of Dulce, New Mexico; the test was an attempt to fracture rock so as to facilitate gas extraction. The Navajo Nation (reservation) is to the West, The Ute Mountain Indian Reservation is to the NW, and the Southern Ute Indian Reservation is to the NE. Historic Native American sites are close by. Aztec Ruins National Monument and Salmon Ruins are ancient pueblo sites short distances northeast and east of Farmington. Mesa Verde National Park is about 40 miles (64 km) to the NW, and Chaco Culture National Historical Park is about 50 miles (80 km) to the SE. The city has been a target of several civil rights investigations, including the 2005 report, The Farmington Report: Civil Rights for Native Americans 30 Years Later.

What is toxic tort law?

Toxic Tort cases involve people who have been injured through exposure to dangerous pharmaceuticals or chemical substances in the environment, on the job, or in consumer products -- including carcinogenic agents, lead, benzene, silica, harmful solvents, hazardous waste, and pesticides to name a few.

Most toxic tort cases have arisen either from exposure to pharmaceutical drugs or occupational exposures. Most pharmaceutical toxic injury cases are mass tort cases, because drugs are consumed by thousands of people, many of whom become ill from a toxic drug. There have also been many occupational toxic tort cases, because industrial and other workers are often chronically exposed to toxic chemicals - more so than consumers and residents. Most of the law in this area arises from asbestos exposure, but thousands of toxic chemicals are used in industry and workers in these areas can experience a variety of toxic injuries. Unlike the general population, which is exposed to trace amounts of thousands of different chemicals in the environment, industrial workers are regularly exposed to much higher levels of chemicals and therefore have a greater risk of developing disease from particular chemical exposures than the general population. The home has recently become the subject of toxic tort litigation, mostly due to mold contamination, but also due to construction materials such as formaldehyde-treated wood and carpet. Toxic tort cases also arise when people are exposed to consumer products such as pesticides and suffer injury. Lastly, people can also be injured from environmental toxins in the air or in drinking water.

Answers to toxic tort law issues in New Mexico

In certain kinds of cases, lawyers charge what is called a contingency fee. Instead of billing by the hour, the...

Because of the health problems caused by lead poisoning, the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction...

Property owners may be liable for tenant health problems caused by exposure to environmental hazards, such as...

In general, mass tort cases involve a large number of individual claimants with claims associated with a single...