BUFFALO, N.Y. — Pre-trial hearings continue in the Niagara Sanitation Landfill lawsuit.

"Today was about a procedural issue, looking at the pleadings, deciding what information is required in the pleadings, what additional information needs to be put into the pleadings," said Stag Liuzza, LLC CEO Mike Stag.

Residents living near the 19-acre site on the Wheatfield/North Tonawanda border filed suit last March against companies responsible for the Love Canal waste dumped on the site in the 1960s, arguing that harmful chemicals at the site are now in their homes.

On Monday, a Federal Court judge gave the plaintiffs instructions to amend their complaint.

"We've alleged claims for negligence and strict liability, and those are items that we think are going forward in the case, and we need to allege additional facts related to our plaintiffs and what injuries they have and more details related to that," Stag said.

The judge also wanted to see a more in-depth breakdown of the chemicals involved, showing which companies they could have come from.

One set of data that could become part of this case is the testing results from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The DEC conducted a series of soil and water testing last spring between the landfill and people's homes.

They released a summary of the findings in January, saying there was no off-site exposure to contaminants.

A DEC representative says the final report is almost finished, and they will set up a meeting with residents soon.

"We have testing showing there are chemicals from the landfill on our clients' properties. And so I don't know what the DEC report is ultimately going to conclude, but I do know there hasn't been testing by the DEC inside the homes that would verify our testing, and we invite them again to do that," Stag said.

The DEC previously told Spectrum News that they've analyzed every potential migration pathway for contaminants, and that they've ruled out the possibility of the waste migrating into homes.

As for the next pre-trial hearing, the judge has provided attorneys 60 days to amend their complaints.

A spokesperson for Occidental Chemical released the following statement:

"We continue to believe the plaintiff's allegations are meritless and we're pleased with Judge Reiss' rulings today."