Litigation-PFAS

Litigation

PFAS Manufacturers Resist Ohio Firefighter’s Bid For Class Action Status

Chemical manufacturers are rebutting arguments made by an Ohio firefighter pursuing class-action status for a refiled lawsuit seeking medical monitoring for Ohio residents exposed to certain PFAS, contending that the plaintiff still fails to show he has standing and reiterating arguments for a federal district court to dismiss the case outright. “This case should be dismissed, just as its predecessor was,” say current and former per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) manufacturers 3M, DuPont and Chemours in a Jan. 27 reply...

Citizens Sue FDA For Inaction On Petition Seeking PFAS Tolerance Levels

An Arizona citizen group and others are suing the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for failing to act on their 2023 petition seeking temporary tolerance levels for residues of more than two dozen PFAS in various foods such as lettuce, blueberries, milk and eggs, arguing the agency has failed to act within a reasonable timeframe. “Defendants’ delay is unreasonable because by not acting, PFAS adulterated foods are left unchecked in the marketplace, and public health is at risk, in violation...

Air Force Renews Bid To Keep PFAS Waste-Permit Test Suit In Federal Court

The Air Force is renewing its efforts to ensure federal courts have jurisdiction over its novel case contesting New Mexico’s authority to regulate PFAS in a waste permit, a suit that tests whether federal law waiving sovereign immunity in waste cases eliminates federal courts’ jurisdiction or whether state and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction. At issue is the service’s long-running challenge to New Mexico’s first-time effort to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the waste permit for Cannon Air...

MDL Judge Rejects CERCLA Cost Recovery Filing On Procedural Grounds

The judge overseeing the massive multidistrict litigation (MDL) governing PFAS contamination from firefighting foam has rejected on procedural grounds a New Mexico dairy’s request to seek Superfund cost recovery claims from the military over releases stemming from the Air Force’s use of the foam. Judge Richard Gergel, of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, issued an order Jan. 15 denying the plaintiffs’ Jan. 14 request to file a motion for partial summary judgment on liability and...

Plaintiffs Urge Court To Reject Defendants’ PFAS Class-Decertification Bid

Plaintiffs in a PFAS class-action suit in North Carolina are urging a federal district court to reject DuPont and Chemours’ third attempt to decertify their class, arguing the effort comes after years of discovery, which resulted in the initial class certification, and that the defendants have provided no new evidence to back their motion. Although the defendants justified their “brazen request for a class-certification do-over” through a list of changes since the initial certification, the defendants’ arguments are either not...

Intervenors Defend PFAS Water Rule Amid Uncertain Trump EPA Position

Environmentalist-intervenors are defending the Biden EPA’s landmark rule setting strict drinking water limits for six PFAS, endorsing and supplementing the agency’s earlier defense amid uncertainty over how the Trump administration will handle industry’s pending challenge. EPA’s National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “reflects rational, well-supported EPA decisions that are consistent with the best available science and the best reading of the Safe Drinking Water Act [(SDWA)],” the environmentalist-intervenors say in a Jan. 17...

Biden Defends PFAS CERCLA Rule Amid Uncertainty Over Trump’s Plans

In their final hours in office, Biden EPA officials filed a legal brief defending the agency’s landmark rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances” and vigorously rebutting industry’s calls to vacate the measure though it is unclear if the Trump administration will continue to defend the controversial regulation. In its Jan. 17 brief in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. EPA , Biden officials in particular dispute industry’s contention that EPA misinterpreted the...

CERCLA, Water PFAS Rules Could Stall If Trump Seeks Stay Of Litigation

Litigation over two major rules regulating PFAS under drinking water and waste laws could be sidelined if, as some expect, incoming President Donald Trump issues an order early on asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request courts put the cases on hold in order to give the new administration time to reconsider them. One former EPA official recently told Inside EPA that Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, will likely issue an order to DOJ to ask courts...

Minnesota Gears Up To Fight Industry Test Suit Against PFAS Product Ban

Minnesota officials are planning to ask a federal court to dismiss a constitutional challenge brought by cookware manufacturers against the state’s landmark 2023 law banning PFAS-containing cookware and other products, saying the litigation is ill-founded and the court should reject industry’s request for a preliminary injunction. In a Jan. 7 letter to the court, lawyers for Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner Katrina Kessler, from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, said they plan to file a motion to dismiss the...

Plaintiffs Increasingly Cite EPA Superfund Rule In PFAS Recovery Claims

States and other entities are increasingly turning to the Superfund law’s cost recovery provision to recoup funds from the military and other potentially liable parties for PFAS cleanups, citing EPA’s landmark rule designating certain PFAS as “hazardous substances” as support for their claims while signaling other suits are likely to follow. While New Mexico last July acted immediately after EPA’s Superfund rule became effective to add cost recovery claims under section 107(a) of the law to its existing suit against...

Wausau, WI Suit

Schaap v. United States, et al. Jan. 3 Memorandum Of Law


MDL Court Resets Trial Date For First Set Of PFAS Personal Injury Cases

The federal district court overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination stemming from firefighting foam has delayed by two weeks the planned October bellwether trial for cases tied to kidney and testicular cancer -- the first set of PFAS personal injury cases to be reviewed by the court. Judge Richard Gergel -- the judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina overseeing the massive MDL on liability related to aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) contamination -- Jan...

3M Urges Appellate Courts To Disregard Connecticut Ruling For Removal Bid

3M is urging two appellate courts to disregard renewed efforts by Maryland, South Carolina and Maine to keep their PFAS contamination suits in state court, arguing the district court ruling they cite, which remanded Connecticut’s similar suit against the company to state court, “contradicts” precedent and has already been appealed. “Like any district court decision, [ Connecticut v. EIDP ] lacks precedential effect even within its own district, and it has no persuasive, let alone authoritative, force here,” 3M said...

Maryland Cites EPA CERCLA Rule In Novel PFAS Cleanup Suit Against Gore

The state of Maryland is suing W.L. Gore & Associates, a company that uses PFAS in various product applications, for ongoing and future cleanup costs and natural resource damages, in what is one of the first state claims to cite EPA’s PFAS “hazardous substance” listing under the Superfund law to make cost recovery claims. “The State brings this action to redress Gore’s contamination of Maryland’s natural resources with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (‘PFAS’), including but not limited to the...

States Cite Connecticut PFAS Ruling In Bid To Reject 3M’s Removal Effort

Maryland, South Carolina and Maine are renewing their efforts to have relevant appellate courts reject arguments by 3M to remove their PFAS contamination suits to federal court, pointing to the recent district court ruling that remanded Connecticut’s similar suit against the company to state court. In a Dec. 20 letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Maryland and South Carolina argued the judge in Connecticut’s case opposed the relevance of two federal appellate decisions that 3M...

3M Appeals Ruling That Remanded Connecticut PFAS Suit To State Court

3M is appealing to the 2nd Circuit the recent federal district court ruling that remanded to state court a PFAS contamination suit brought by Connecticut, expanding the number of state suits against 3M now awaiting an appellate decision on the appropriate venue for litigation after being initially remanded to state court. The Dec. 23 appeal notification in Connecticut v. EIDP, et al. came just days after Senior Judge Stefan Underhill of the U.S. District Court for the District of...

Plastics Company Seeks To Strike Class Certification In PFAS Air Tort Case

A plastics manufacturer is urging a federal appeals court to strike down class certification of a tort case that alleges PFAS air emissions from the company’s plant contaminated drinking water for potentially thousands of residents, contending a lower court violated civil procedure rules and abused its discretion. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation argues in its Dec. 23 opening brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit that a federal district court erred in certifying a class of current...

EPA Defends Landmark PFAS Drinking Water Rule Against Legal Challenge

EPA is defending its landmark PFAS drinking water rule against a legal attack by drinking water utilities and the chemical sector that charges a variety of alleged missteps by the agency, contending the challenge lacks merit and that it seeks to advance arguments that conflict with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) or with court precedent. “Petitioners’ arguments challenging the Rule lack merit,” EPA says in a Dec. 23 brief filed in American Water Works Association (AWWA), et al. v....

‘Best Practice’ Frameworks Weigh PFAS, Climate In NRD Assessments

An ad-hoc industry group has released “best practice” frameworks for addressing PFAS, climate change, remediation and emergency response in natural resource damage assessments, as a result of a collaborative effort involving legal experts, industry, academia, professional environmental groups and federal and state trustee representatives. The Ad-Hoc Industry Natural Resource Management Group -- a long-standing group that represents major companies in various industry sectors -- Dec. 10 released the four topic-specific Best Practice Approach Frameworks, “which are intended to aid practitioners...

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