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Ben Finley, 58, attorney at The Finley Firm, poses in front of his firm on 13th Street atop Nonic in Columbus, Ga., on Sept. 18, 2024.
Credit: Kala Hunter / Ledger-Enquirer
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Why Columbus lawyer is joining Erin Brockovich, legal team to fight GA water contamination
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A Columbus attorney will be part of the team taking on corporate giant 3M over “forever chemical” contamination in Georgia.
Ben Finley, 58, attorney at The Finley Firm, is leading a star-studded team of lawyers, water experts, and famous consumer justice advocate Erin Brockovich to challenge 3M due to possible contamination in the soil and water in Dalton, Rome, and Calhoun.
“PFAS” are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, colloquially known as “forever chemicals” because they never break down. They’re man-made chemicals used in many industrial and consumer products like heat and oil resistance on frying pans and stain resistant carpets. PFAS are known to cause testicular, kidney and liver cancer, as well as reproductive and fertility issues.
“(Decades ago) 3M sent their (PFAS-containing) products by rail car to Northwest Georgia for the carpet industry needs,” Finley said. “The contaminant ended up in the water system in Dalton utilities, then the groundwater.”
If it ended up in your house, Finley explained, “you take a shower with that water, water the lawn, make coffee in the morning, it’s extremely problematic.”
The more PFAS exposure one has, the bigger build up over time.
In June 2023, 3M reached a $10 billion dollar settlement to pay U.S. cities and towns over claims that the company contaminated drinking water. Three months later, The city of Rome, which is about 30 minutes from Calhoun and an hour from Dalton, received $75 million in the settlement.
The city of Rome will use the money to upgrade water infrastructure to remove PFAS, Finley explained.
Twenty-five years ago, Erin Brockovich, famous for the self-titled 2000 film Erin Brockovich, in which she was played by Julia Roberts, became a consumer advocate after learning Pacific Gas & Electric was poisoning residents with toxic waste causing cancer and other health problems. She still fights for environmental justice around the U.S. today.
“Erin gets a lot of people reaching out to her all over the country,” Finley said. “But in northwest Georgia, there was a predominance of the same stories over and over again with property contamination, cancers, birth defects and other fertility issues.”
Brockovich said in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer that she began getting calls from northwest Georgia in March after her colleague, Bob Bowcock, shared PFAS levels with her.
“I knew I had to come tell people how bad it really is,” she wrote.
Finley, Nick Jackson of the Finley Firm, Bowcock, Brockovich and others set up two town halls Friday and Saturday to educate residents about the dangers of PFAS and how they can help residents fight for justice and receive settlements if there are contaminants on their property and land.
“We’re also including Jason Itkin, Sean Tracy, and Sean Fox which brought claims in Hawaii for Hawaii fires and the California fires for PG&E,” Finely said.
The Friday town hall was expected to start at 6 p.m. at The Venue at Cottonwood Farm, 350 Crisp Road in Chatsworth. The Saturday town hall was set for 10 a.m. at The Spot 365, 365 S Industrial Blvd. in Calhoun.
Why this Columbus lawyer is getting involved
Finley has been involved with high-profile environmental cases before. In 2014, his firm recovered $30 million for individuals and businesses affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Jackson’s father had a property claim for the oil spill that would ignite a passion for law and justice within Jackson. Since then, Jackson has been under the wings of Finley, starting as a legal assistant out of high school at the Finley Firm.
“This work we will be doing in Northwest Georgia is a full circle moment for me after I started with Ben in 2014,” Jackson said.
Over the last 33 years, Finley has recovered over $500 million for businesses and personal injury claims, and $30 million on a contingency fee.
Contingency arrangements are set up so the client never has to pay a dime, according to Finley.
For example, if the case settles for $100,000 his firm gets a percentage, and if they don’t win anything, the client doesn’t have to pay, he said.
“There is no financial impediment to the folks (in Dalton and Calhoun),” he said. “That includes the testing.”
The PFAS Georgia team has been running soil and water tests for PFAS for months to get a sense of the scale.
“Our research shows that northwest Georgia is some of the most contaminated land in the country,” Jackson said. “It’s what we consider a hotspot and the people of northwest Georgia deserve attention for this.”
Dalton is about the same population size as Phenix City with a giant manufacturing industry, which makes the situation “incredibly problematic.”
Finley’s Columbus roots run deep
Finley, a Columbus native, went to Blanchard Elementary and Brookstone and has managed to influence peers and represent the “little guy” for 33 years.
“He’s a bit of a bulldog,” said Morris Mullin, lawyer at Waldrep, Mullin & Callahan who attended Blanchard and Brookstone and then Auburn with Finley. “He fights for what he thinks is right and not all lawyers do that. It’s a passion for him to fight for the little guy who has been wronged by corporate greed. Once he grabs hold he doesn’t let go and shakes as hard as he can.”
Mullins and Finley attended Auburn together from 1984-1988, alongside Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court Harold Melton. Mullins and Finley both went to University of Georgia to get their law degree.
After working for a few years at Swift, Curry & McGee in Atlanta, Finley started his own firm at 29 in 1995.
“It was almost insane (to start that young), I was always sort of a young man in a hurry who hustled,” Finely said.
Finley worked in Atlanta for 20 years before he moved back to Columbus.
“I realized there was a real need to open an office in Columbus because you only have one hometown,” he said.
Finley’s basketball coach in sixth grade was Frank Martin, the Mayor of Columbus at the time. Martin was an “iconic lawyer around Columbus.”
Finley’s own father was a trial lawyer, who died at 46 from a heart attack when Finley was just 5 years old.
Raised by a single mother who had a sense of fairness and justice, he called her “his hero,” and said she “gave me a sense of purpose and grounded me in a way where I saw things that were unfair.”
Finley said the issue in northwest Georgia is about his kids and grandkids.
“We’ve got to do everything we can to preserve the environment for future generations and that is what this case is about.”
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with the Ledger-Enquirer.
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