The Kentucky Court of Appeals is allowing a class action lawsuit to move forward against a shuttered Scott County landfill that local residents have lodged complaints against for years over allegations of pervasive and noxious odors coming from the site.
In anAug. 7 decision, Court of Appeals Judge Will Moynahan wrote Scott County Circuit Judge Kathryn Gabhart did not err in her ruling that a lawsuit against Waste Services of the Bluegrass met the legal requirements to be class action — meaning that the plaintiffs can represent a larger group of people in the case.
Scott County residents brought a lawsuit against Waste Services of the Bluegrass in 2019 following years of odor complaints connected to the company’s Central Kentucky Landfill in northern Scott County.
The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet received complaints about alleged “noxious” odors on an almost daily basis when the approximately 33-acre landfill was operating, according to the July 2025 ruling by Gabhart that certified the lawsuit as class action. Complaints described the alleged odors as “sulfuric or chemical in nature” impacting people working both outside and indoors, causing physical symptoms including irritated eyes and nausea.
The landfill stopped accepting waste in 2022 following an agreed-upon order with the cabinet, which had inspected the landfill site at least 104 times between 2017 and 2022 and had found “reported odor exceeding regulatory thresholds” on 42 occasions, according to the ruling by Moynahan.
Attorneys for Waste Services of the Bluegrass had argued the plaintiffs’ individualized complaints against the landfill did not meet the legal requirements to be defined as class action. Attorneys for the defendant also argued that plaintiffs had asked for the lawsuit to become class action in 2024, an unreasonable delay that was years after plaintiffs filed the suit.
Moynahan wrote that the case has “progressed slowly” but he didn’t find any fault with the years of delays.
Attorneys for Waste Services of the Bluegrass did not respond to a Tuesday email asking if they would appeal the appeals court decision to the Kentucky Supreme Court. An attorney representing Scott County residents declined to comment on the decision.
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