The Kansas City-based engineering firm of Burns & McDonnell confirms it has agreed to pay $10 million to farmers in Missouri concerned about fertilizer applied to farmland from a leather tannery.

Burns & McDonnell was the sole defendant remaining in a lawsuit about the use of sludge containing hexavalent chromium. The company was a consultant to Prime Tanning. The Tannery and its affiliated owners have filed for bankruptcy.

“Burns & McDonnell has not admitted to any wrongdoing and the company continues to deny it caused harm to any property,” the company said in a press release.

“The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the EPA concluded that the application of Prime fertilizer did not pose a health concern and that no cleanup of the land was necessary.”

The company says it settled to avoid the expense of multiple trials.

The lawsuit covered propertu owners in Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton and DeKalb counties who claimed the use of the chemical destroyed their property values.

Residents in those counties said they learned that the fertilizer contained hexavalent chromium after concerns that there were higher-than-usual levels of brain cancer among people living there. Hexavalent chromium is a known carcinogen.

The lawsuit settled Friday did not involve the health effects of the chemical.