How Lawyers Exploit Crisis for Profit

Plaintiffs' lawyers are exploiting San Diego's sewage crisis, hoping to enrich themselves, while offering false solutions that won't stop a single gallon of Mexican pollution. Their strategy is simple: target the wrong parties, make big promises, and aim for massive fees while residents continue to suffer. Lawsuits divert money and resources from solving the problem. Why spend years in court instead of working on real solutions, right now ?

Claim 1

"Veolia is responsible for the sewage crisis because they operate the treatment plant"

False

Most sewage never even enters the South Bay plant. The overwhelming majority flows directly from Mexican sources, bypassing all treatment entirely. Veolia certainly can't treat what doesn't even make it to its plant. Nor can it treat all of the sewage that does reach the plant: basic mathematics show that Veolia cannot be responsible for pollution volumes that exceed the plant's maximum possible capacity.

Claim 2

"Veolia failed to maintain equipment and coordinate with Mexico to prevent overflows"

False

Veolia operates a treatment plant, not Mexican infrastructure. We have no authority over Mexican sewage generation, collection systems, or government policies. Mexico regularly sends the plant sewage flows exceeding capacity, mixed with rocks, debris and mud that destroy equipment and can harm operational performance. Despite these extreme conditions, we've kept the plant functioning for nearly three decades.

Claim 3

"Suing Veolia will force them to fix the contamination and compensate victims"

Truth

Veolia was fighting for South Bay residents well before opportunistic lawyers began making deceptive claims. Veolia doesn't control Mexican sewage generation, Mexican infrastructure or Mexican government decisions. If Veolia stopped operating the plant today, that would mean 35 million additional gallons of sewage in San Diego County's waterways. Suing the U.S. treatment operator won't stop Mexican pollution any more than suing a hospital will cure a pandemic.

The Exploitation Strategy:
Why Lawyers Target the Wrong Party
And Delay Solutions

Veolia is "all-hands on deck" working to push back Mexican sewage. Lawyers looking for "deep pockets" have a clear financial incentive to sue Veolia instead of calling out the real sources of pollution. They have turned the sewage crisis into a personal profit opportunity through an aggressive campaign that ignores basic facts.

Lawyers redirect attention from the actual problem to a convenient scapegoat, providing political cover for Mexican authorities to avoid addressing their infrastructure failures. People on both sides of the border need real solutions.

The Business Model

Lawyers typically collect 30-40% of any settlement or judgment. In this case, some have claimed to have signed up over 1,000 plaintiffs, with damage claims reaching into the "billions" according to their own statements. This creates massive financial incentives to imagine corporate scapegoats rather than to pursue actual solutions.

Corporate Scapegoat Strategy

Veolia operates in 40 states serving 20 million Americans, pays millions of dollars in taxes and employs 12,000 people in the United States. Veolia employees are the ones fighting every day to hold back a flood of sewage coming from Mexico. The Mexican government and its infrastructure operators are much harder to sue, though they're the actual source of the pollution. Lawyers choose what they think is a quick and easy way to maximize their fees, regardless of the truth and the urgent need to work on real solutions. They don't want the Tijuana sewage crisis to end, as long as it brings money in their pockets, even if that means impeding real-world solutions to the crisis.

Media Manipulation Campaign

These lawyers attempt to falsely cast blame on Veolia while conveniently omitting that Mexico is behind the pollution.

False Authority Claims

They have falsely claimed that Veolia "entered into an agreement with the federal government to manage sewage, including being the lead entity to coordinate efforts with Mexico." This is completely untrue: Veolia operates a treatment plant for the US government, not Mexican infrastructure or international coordination.

How Opportunistic Lawsuits Derail Real Solutions

Lawyers have no incentive for a meaningful solution to the crisis: they are trying for a quick win, disrupting the response to the sewage. These misguided legal attacks actively damage efforts to solve the crisis. Every hour spent defending against false accusations diverts resources from addressing the real source of the problem.

Distraction from the Real Source of the Problem

Lawyers redirect attention from the actual problem to a convenient scapegoat, providing political cover for Mexican authorities to avoid addressing their infrastructure failures. When lawsuits focus on U.S. operators, Mexican officials face less pressure to invest in real solutions.

False Hope for Residents

Residents believe suing Veolia will solve their problems, when the reality is that this won't stop Mexican sewage flowing untreated daily. This false hope prevents communities from demanding accountability from the actual sources.

Threat to Real Investment

Legal uncertainty can complicate the $600 million federal investment in plant expansion. Ongoing litigation creates distractions that threaten to derail actual solutions addressing the crisis at its source. While lawyers chase corporate targets and lucrative settlements, they risk impeding the real solutions that are finally moving forward. Congress funded the largest treatment plant expansion in border history. The EPA demanded 100% solutions from Mexico, and international cooperation is advancing with binding commitments.

Veolia's Commitment
to Truth

We are the leading water company in the United States

with nearly 30 years of successful operations in San Diego. We have earned our reputation by operating complex infrastructure well under difficult conditions. Every day Veolia workers fight back against the flood of sewage coming from Mexico.

Veolia will not allow opportunistic lawyers to distort the facts or exploit this crisis for financial gain. We support the local and regional leaders who have a track record of delivering real bi-national solutions. We will continue fighting these baseless lawsuits while working toward permanent solutions that actually address the crisis.

South Bay treatment plant

Get the Real
Facts

False solutions and finding scapegoats while the real problem flows unchecked

Claims vs Reality
Setting the Record Straight