Locke v. Liquid Air Corp.

JOHNSON, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Liquid Air’s Decatur, Alabama, plant manufactures acetylene gas. The resulting by-product of the manufacturing process, a slurry compound of water and lime, is pumped into holding ponds or sludge pits; the lime settles to the bottom, leaving a pool of water. Lime slurry, although having a higher pH content than tapwater, is not toxic or poisonous. For several years the Liquid Air plant in Decatur operated with two slurry holding ponds. A third pond, in which plaintiff James Locke’s son, Sean Locke, drowned, was constructed in 1980 and 1981 to meet the…