Erin Brockovich Alleges Urban Oil Cancer Danger

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - MAY 6: Students play ball at Beverly Hills High School within sight of a 165-foot-tall oil well decorated with flower designs in 2000 by children suffering from cancer and other serious diseases May 6, 2003 in Beverly Hills, California. Abandoned wells on the campus of the school allegedly leak cancer-causing fumes, according to a complaint filed by Erin Brockovich and legal colleague Ed Masry. The action by Brockovich, whose fight against environmental pollution inspired the film that won Julia Roberts an Academy Award, alleges that the fumes have created a cancer cluster of 280 cases of Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and thyroid cancer since the 1970s, a rate that is 20 times higher than the national average. Masry's firm is representing 25 personal-injury claims against the school district and Beverly Hills. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)