Litigation-PFAS

Litigation

3M Asks 4th Circuit To Reject States’ Bid To Reconsider PFAS Venue Ruling

3M is urging the full 4th Circuit to reject Maryland and South Carolina’s request to reconsider a panel’s ruling that backed the company’s bid to remove their PFAS contamination suits from state to federal court, arguing the panel correctly credited 3M’s arguments that its federal and non-federal PFAS activities sufficiently overlapped. The company’s arguments, in an April 10 response brief , echoes its long-running effort to remove such per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination suits to federal court, specifically to...

Court Urged To Vacate PFAS Drinking Water Rule Due To Flawed Risk Levels

Toxicology groups led by a former Trump EPA toxics office nominee are urging an appellate court to vacate the Biden EPA’s drinking water rule setting limits on six PFAS, with the groups charging that officials made mistakes in their use of scientific studies when determining risk levels for the chemicals that are the basis for the rule. As a result, the groups say in an April 15 amici brief the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...

April 15 Amici Brief

Motion For Leave


Alabama High Court Limits Jurisdiction Over Out-Of-State PFAS Impacts

Alabama’s highest court has rejected a lower court’s finding of specific personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state business supplying PFAS formulations to carpet manufacturers given the company played no role in discharging PFAS, a win for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who feared the case could set an adverse precedent for firms nationwide. In an April 4 opinion in Ex parte INV Performance Surfaces, In re: Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Gadsden v. DuPont De Nemours, Inc.,...

EPA Wins Additional 30 Days To Review PFAS Drinking Water Rule

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has granted EPA’s request to extend by 30 days a stay of litigation challenging the agency’s landmark PFAS drinking water rule, giving the Trump administration more time to evaluate how to proceed in the case, which contests the Biden-era limits on six PFAS in drinking water. In an April 10 order , the D.C. Circuit gave EPA until May 12 to file motions to govern future proceedings. The court...

Judge Denies Stay Of Prop. 65 Suit Against Chrome Platers’ PFAS Discharges

A California superior court judge is denying a chrome-plating firm’s bid to stay environmentalists’ novel Proposition 65 lawsuit against it for alleged illegal discharges of PFAS into drinking water sources, finding that doing so could be unfair to the environmentalists by allowing the company’s internal investigation to go on indefinitely. “The investigation has already been ongoing for some time. While Defendant represents that it believes the investigation to be nearing its conclusion, it cannot guarantee this to be the case...

3M Cites Appellate Rulings To Move Connecticut PFAS Suit To Federal Court

3M is urging the 2nd Circuit to reverse a district court decision that remanded to state court a suit from Connecticut targeting its PFAS contamination, noting two appellate decisions in other state cases that held that suits targeting PFAS sources other than firefighting foam the company made for the military should still be heard in federal court. In an April 7 opening brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, 3M reiterated the argument it has made...

EPA Asks Court For Another 30 Days To Review Biden-Era PFAS Water Rule

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit to extend by 30 days a stay of litigation challenging the agency’s PFAS drinking water rule, arguing the Trump administration needs more time to evaluate the Biden-era rule that set strict limits on six PFAS in drinking water and decide how to proceed in the case. The request underscores the Trump EPA’s continuing uncertainty about how to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as the agency prepares to announce a new PFAS lead official...

New Citizen Suit May Build On Landmark Carpet Sector PFAS Cleanup Deal

Environmentalists and a Georgia farm are suing a public wastewater treatment utility, carpet producers and PFAS manufacturers over a range of alleged Clean Water Act (CWA) and other violations, a measure that may seek to build on a landmark 2024 deal that the lead plaintiff secured against a nearby municipality, manufacturers and others. The new suit , filed April 2 by the Coosa River Basin Initiative (CRBI) and a local farm, seeks to stop and remediate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

Claims Court Dismisses Plaintiffs’ PFAS Takings Case Against Air Force

A federal claims court has dismissed a $400 million lawsuit against the Air Force alleging takings of private property as a result of PFAS contamination affecting farms and private property and stemming from decades of using PFAS-containing firefighting foam by a military base, with the court citing three independent reasons for dismissal. In an unpublished March 26 order , the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which oversees takings claims against the federal government, dismissed the case, Art Schaap, et al....

1st Circuit Says 3M’s Removal Of New Hampshire PFAS Suit Was ‘Untimely’

The 1st Circuit has affirmed a lower court ruling to remand to state court a PFAS contamination suit from New Hampshire against 3M, agreeing with the district court that the company removed the case in an untimely manner while sidestepping questions on the merits of 3M’s claim that the suit belongs in federal court under “federal officer removal” law. “Because we agree with the district court that 3M untimely attempted removal, we affirm,” wrote Judge William J. Kayatta, Jr. for...

MDL Court Sets Discovery Schedule For Additional PFAS Personal Injuries

The federal district court overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination stemming from firefighting foam has issued an order outlining a schedule and plan to start discovery for plaintiffs’ personal injury claims involving liver and thyroid cancer, two diseases that were not part of an earlier discovery schedule. Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, which is overseeing the massive MDL governing claims related to aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) contamination, issued a March...

Maryland, South Carolina Ask 4th Circuit To Reconsider 3M Venue Decision

Maryland and South Carolina are asking the full 4th Circuit to reconsider a panel’s ruling that backed 3M’s request to remove their PFAS contamination lawsuits to federal court, arguing the panel incorrectly defined the company’s “charged conduct” when it determined its federal jurisdiction. In a March 21 petition , the states ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to reverse the split panel ruling that backed 3M’s claim that the case belongs in federal court because a...

FDA Plans To Answer Petition Seeking PFAS Tolerance Levels By Year’s End

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) plans to respond by the end of the year to a 2023 citizen petition asking the agency to set temporary tolerance levels for residues of more than two dozen PFAS in various foods, signaling the agency may be considering whether to set such thresholds. The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona March 21 issued an order granting an unopposed motion for continuance filed by FDA and an environmental justice group and other...

Chemours Urges Court To Deny Request To Enforce PFAS Permit Limits

PFAS manufacturer Chemours is urging a federal district court to deny environmentalists’ request to issue a preliminary injunction that would force the company to limit its PFAS wastewater discharge levels at its Parkersburg, WV, plant in accordance with an existing permit, with the company arguing the plaintiff lacks standing. Further, the defendant in a March 11 response brief in West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Inc. v. The Chemours Company contends the plaintiff fails to meet the factors required to warrant...

Appellate Judges Press New Mexico On Venue In PFAS Waste-Permit Suit

Judges from the 10th Circuit are questioning New Mexico officials on their novel claims that an Air Force challenge to a state waste permit governing PFAS releases belongs in state court, suggesting during oral argument that the service may not be bound to proceed in state court. During March 18 oral arguments, the three-judge panel also questioned concerns raised by a lower court that allowing New Mexico’s case to proceed in federal court could result in piecemeal litigation. The judges...

New Hampshire Urges Court To Reject 3M’s New Bid To Remove PFAS Suit

New Hampshire is urging the 1st Circuit to reject 3M’s latest attempt to remove the state’s PFAS contamination suit to federal court, arguing that the recent 4th Circuit decision that the company cited to support its removal effort misinterpreted the “nexus” between the charged conduct and federal authority that is required for removal. “Under the new Fourth Circuit view, federal officer jurisdiction would lie over a claim that the defendant injured the plaintiff by running her over with his car,...

Minnesota Urges Court To Dismiss Industry Suit Against PFAS Cookware Ban

Minnesota regulators are urging a federal district court to dismiss a suit from manufacturers seeking to halt the state’s prohibition on PFAS-containing cookware, arguing that their dormant Commerce Clause claims are not viable, the law treats in- and out-of-state producers equally, and its benefits far exceed any burden on commerce. The March 10 motion to dismiss from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner Katrina Kessler came soon after a federal judge rejected the Cookware Sustainability Alliance’s (CSA) bid for a...

Plaintiffs Urge Court To Uphold Class Certification In PFAS Deposition Case

Citizen plaintiffs are urging a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court’s certification of a class action case alleging potentially thousands of properties were contaminated by PFAS air depositions from a New Hampshire textiles plant, saying the court had the discretion to certify a liability class and acted consistently with civil procedure rules. The district court “certified a Rule 23(b)(3) liability class consistent with Rule 23 and decades of law that grant district courts that significant discretion,” the plaintiffs-appellees...

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