Litigation-PFAS

Litigation


Air Force, New Mexico Escalate Dispute Over Cannon AFB PFAS Cleanup

New Mexico’s top environmental regulator says the Air Force appears to be escalating its dispute with the state over PFAS contamination at an air base, sidelining state inspectors and seeking changes in court venue as state officials again seek to oversee the cleanup through litigation bolstered by a new state law regulating PFAS-containing firefighting foam. The Air Force appears to be testing that new law, in what New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary James Kenney says are actions inconsistent with...

Georgia PFAS Case Tests Prioritization Of Competing CERCLA, CWA Claims

A public utility in Georgia is fighting with environmentalists over whether the Superfund law or the Clean Water Act (CWA) should govern the cleanup of land and waterways contaminated with PFAS-laden wastewater, as they contest the issue in separate claims pending in federal court. The dispute could be an early test of whether Superfund cost recovery claims for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) cleanups -- now allowed under EPA’s 2024 Superfund rule designating two heavily studied PFAS as “hazardous substances”...

D.C. Circuit Grants EPA Request To Lift Stay In PFAS SDWA Rule Suit

The D.C. Circuit has granted EPA’s request to reactivate litigation brought by industry and water utilities challenging the Biden-era rule limiting PFAS in drinking water, ordering the parties to provide to the court by Aug. 1 proposals for a schedule and format to complete briefing in the case. In a July 22 order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit grants EPA’s July 21 motion to govern future proceedings in the consolidated American Water Works...

EPA Asks Court To Resume Stalled Suit Over Biden-Era PFAS SDWA Rule

The Trump EPA is pressing the D.C. Circuit to resume what is expected to be complex litigation challenging the Biden-era rule setting PFAS limits in drinking water, asking the court to direct parties in the consolidated case to submit by Aug. 1 proposals for a schedule and format to complete briefing in the case. “The parties are continuing to confer regarding a proposed format and schedule for completion of briefing in these consolidated cases, including an additional filing to be...

MDL Judge Orders Talks To Discuss Massive Uptick In PFAS Injury Claims

The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination is ordering an unscheduled teleconference with attorneys due to concerns that the ballooning number of unfiled personal injury claims -- possibly tens of thousands -- could disrupt the suit as he presses for a “global settlement” ahead of a trial on the first set of injury cases. “The sudden aggregating of a large number of unfiled personal injury claims has the potential of disrupting the orderly operation of the MDL and...

Connecticut Urges 2nd Circuit To Reject 3M’s Bid For Federal Removal

Connecticut is urging the 2nd Circuit to reject 3M’s argument that the state’s PFAS contamination suit belongs in federal court, contending that an appellate ruling favoring federal removal in a similar case involving Maryland and South Carolina, that 3M heavily depends on, did not appropriately determine that 3M had a “colorable federal defense.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit’s “determination that 3M had satisfied the causal-nexus requirement was premised on a standard that is contrary to the...

Parties Provide New Details On Injunction Bid In Chemours PFAS Permit Suit

Environmentalists and PFAS manufacturer Chemours are providing a federal district court with additional arguments on whether environmentalists have met standing and “irreparable harm” requirements to obtain a preliminary injunction that could require an immediate limit on PFAS discharges at Chemours’ West Virginia facility. The new briefs from Chemours and West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) are the latest in a series of filings following a May 21-23 preliminary injunction hearing before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West...

NDWAC Meeting May Provide Details On EPA’s SDWA PFAS Rule Revisions

EPA’s plan to consult with its drinking water advisory committee at a public meeting later this month on proposed revisions to its PFAS drinking water limits may provide a first glimpse of much-anticipated details on how the agency expects to retain part of the Biden-era rule while rescinding and reconsidering other aspects of it. In a notice published in the Federal Register July 10, EPA announces that its Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water will meet with the...

Federal Court Poised To Hear Challenge To Minnesota’s PFAS In Cookware Ban

A federal district court is poised to consider later this week cookware manufacturers’ challenge to Minnesota’s ban on PFAS-containing cookware, holding a hearing that will test whether the state’s comprehensive PFAS product prohibitions law -- the strictest in the country -- will survive legal action. Senior Judge John R. Tunheim of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota will hold a general hearing July 11 on Cookware Sustainability Alliance (CSA) v. Kessler , which Minnesota Pollution Control Agency...

D.C. Circuit Grants EPA Request To Again Extend Stay Of CERCLA PFAS Case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has granted EPA’s unopposed motion to further stay litigation challenging the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” giving it still more time to decide on whether it will pursue changes to the rule. The D.C. Circuit July 3 granted EPA’s July 2 request to continue abeyance of the case , Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. EPA , for another...

EPA Seeks Fourth Extension In Case Challenging CERCLA PFAS Rule

The Trump EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit to once again delay industry litigation challenging the landmark Biden-era rule listing two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” the fourth time the agency has sought such a delay to give officials more time to decide on how or whether they will seek to revise the rule amid competing interests. EPA July 2 filed an unopposed motion asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to continue abeyance for...

DOJ Awaits EPA Decision On PFAS Rule, Stalling Talks On CERCLA Suits

Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys are delaying settlement talks in the first set of Superfund cost recovery claims in multidistrict litigation (MDL) over PFAS contamination from firefighting foam as they await the outcome of EPA’s review of the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances.” Such claims rely on EPA’s Superfund per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) rule to assert a cause of action, which means any decision by EPA to rescind the rule would likely have a significant...

Motion For Partial Summary Judgment

Memorandum Of Law


MDL Judge Presses For ‘Global Settlement’ In AFFF Personal Injury Cases

The judge overseeing the massive multidistrict litigation (MDL) governing PFAS contamination stemming from firefighting foam is pressing parties to try to reach a “global settlement” covering personal injury claims, suggesting the next couple months ahead of a scheduled trial on kidney cancer cases are a key window for such an agreement. “I think y’all would be extremely prudent to be flexible enough to look for a global settlement,” Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of...

Bolstered By New Law, New Mexico Sues Air Force Over PFAS Releases

New Mexico is again suing the Air Force in state court over its alleged failure to control PFAS releases and mitigate off-base contamination at Cannon Air Force Base (AFB) under its hazardous waste permit, bolstered by a new state law that regulates firefighting foam containing PFAS as “hazardous waste.” The June 23 suit brings the state’s long-running fight with the Air Force over its per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) releases and cleanup demands at Cannon AFB full-circle, after originally filing in...

Courts Expected To Settle CERCLA Liability Question Over Biosolids Use

As questions grow over potential Superfund liability for application of PFAS-containing biosolids, attorneys say they expect courts will be drawn into settling unresolved legal questions that are intensifying uncertainty for those seeking to dispose of biosolids, parties involved in real estate transactions at disposal sites, their consultants and others. Among other things, the attorneys expect that courts will ultimately have to decide whether such applications are covered by the exclusion under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)...

Court Allows Water System To Intervene In PFAS Permit Discharge Case

A federal district court has granted an Ohio water system’s request to intervene as a plaintiff in pending litigation against Chemours to try to enforce PFAS discharge limits at the company’s Parkersburg, WV, plant, rejecting Chemours’ opposition to the request after finding that the system has standing and meets other requirements for intervention. At issue was whether the Little Hocking Water Association (LHWA), a water system in Ohio that says its wellfield is the primary catchment reservoir for per- and...

Lawyers Warn Of Emerging Tort Suits Against Downstream Users Of PFAS

NEW YORK -- Defense lawyers are raising concerns about an emerging “second wave” of PFAS litigation against water suppliers, grocery stores and other downstream PFAS users that are being targeted by plaintiffs despite not having produced the chemicals, underscoring the renewed call for protections against liability for such parties. “In a case where you bring a product liability action against the manufacturer, that company has created the product, designed the product, sold and profited from that product, and probably has...

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