Signal Interactive Media is serving as notice provider for a class action settlement in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, helping reach residents who alleged they were made sick by a defunct municipal incinerator in the Lincoln Park complex, where levels of arsenic, dioxin, and other environmental contaminants may be elevated.

Signal will execute a creative, multi-platform media campaign to help ensure primarily older residents of the Durrs neighborhood where the incinerator was located will understand and apply for the benefits available to them: $750 property damage payments and free medical monitoring.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel has the following write-up, explaining the case history and the long road to settlement:

Long ago, between the 1920s and 1950s, Fort Lauderdale operated a municipal incinerator that burned garbage, sending toxic ash through the air. That ash settled in the soil, leaving it contaminated with arsenic, dioxin and lead.

In 1961, Walter “Mickey” Hinton and wife Joan moved into their home in the Durrs neighborhood in northwest Fort Lauderdale, a stone’s throw from where the incinerator blew its ash.

Fort Lauderdale operated the incinerator until the 1950s, dumping toxic ash on land across the street. That land later became Lincoln Park, a neighborhood gathering spot in the 1900 block of Sistrunk Boulevard where children played.

The Hintons say their chronic health issues were caused by the toxic waste from the incinerator that stood a mere 150 feet from their home.

With hundreds of potential plaintiffs, the Ft. Lauderdale City Commission gave the $18 million settlement unanimous approval in May 2020.

Update, November 1, 2021: You can read more about Signal’s work on this case here, covering how we reached affected Lincoln Park residents.