Mealey's Toxic Torts : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Toxic Torts

August 12, 2025
PFAS Plaintiffs Say They Have Established Jurisdiction Against DuPont, Others

BOSTON — The plaintiffs in a consolidated class action for drinking water contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on Aug. 11 filed briefs in Massachusetts federal court opposing a motion to dismiss filed by EIDP Inc. and affiliates of E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. (collectively, DuPont) and others, arguing that they have sufficiently alleged causation and the district court has jurisdiction.
August 11, 2025
4th Circuit: Regular Appeal Notice Proper For Challenging CAFA Remand Order

RICHMOND, Va. — A regular notice of appeal filed under 28 U.S. Code Section 1291 is appropriate to seek review of a remand order based on the Class Action Fairness Act’s local controversy exception, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a remand order in a putative class complaint alleging community lead exposure following hydroblasting of a television tower in Baltimore.
August 08, 2025
Chemours Appeals Injunction Against It Related To PFAS Discharges Into Ohio River

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Chemours Co. FC LLC on Aug. 7 filed a notice in West Virginia federal court indicating that it is appealing to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a judge’s ruling that granted an environmental advocacy group a preliminary injunction in a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination case. Chemours’s notice, which did not provide any reasons for the appeal, was filed the same day the judge granted the preliminary injunction.
August 08, 2025
Calif. Judge Sanctions City Plaintiffs In Modesto Dry-Cleaning Pollution Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — Finding that “egregious discovery violations” were committed, a California judge imposed issue, evidence and monetary sanctions on the city of Modesto regarding the concealing and destroying of records that show the known existence of perchloroethylene (PCE) contamination in sewers at several former dry-cleaning sites around the city three years before it filed a lawsuit against two chemical companies.
August 04, 2025
Hawaii Federal Judge: 4 Individuals, Group Can Bring CWA Fuel Release Claims

HONOLULU — Four out of 10 individuals and the environmental group they belong to have standing to bring claims against the U.S. Navy under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for releases from an underground fuel storage facility in Honolulu that allegedly contaminated surrounding waters, a federal judge in Hawaii ruled in partly granting the plaintiffs’ partial motion for summary judgment.
August 04, 2025
DuPont To Pay $875M To End New Jersey PFAS Litigation Tied To Chambers Works Site

TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Aug. 4 that the state has reached an agreement under which the Chemours Co., DuPont de Nemours Inc. and Corteva Inc. will pay $875 million to resolve all claims brought against 3M Co., EIDP Inc., formerly E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and its affiliates related to contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) stemming from activity at DuPont’s Chambers Works plant.
August 04, 2025
Company: Plaintiffs Are Liable For Contributory Negligence In Water Pollution Case

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Northrop Grumman Corp. and an affiliate have filed an answer in New York federal court denying allegations brought against them by plaintiffs who seek punitive damages for injuries allegedly caused by toxic chemicals that have polluted the local water supply. The companies assert multiple affirmative defenses, including that the claims are barred by comparative negligence and contributory negligence.
August 04, 2025
Plaintiffs Say 2 Colgate Kids Toothpastes Contain Heavy Metals, Seek Damages

NEW YORK — Plaintiffs have filed a putative class action in New York federal court against Colgate-Palmolive Co. contending that it has engaged in “deceptive, unfair, and unsafe business practice” by making two kids toothpaste products that contain, or risk containing, “dangerously high levels of heavy metals like lead and mercury.”
August 04, 2025
3 Complaints Allege Roundup Caused Cancer, Say Monsanto’s Conduct Was ‘Wrongful’

ST. LOUIS — An attorney has filed three lawsuits against Monsanto Co. in Missouri federal court seeking compensatory and punitive damages for allegedly “negligent and wrongful conduct” related to the manufacture of the herbicide Roundup, which each plaintiff says caused them to develop cancer. In one complaint, Thomas Martin contends that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable” for sale to the public.
August 01, 2025
AFFF Defendants: Plaintiffs’ Experts Are Inadmissible Under Rule Of Evidence

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The defendants in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) for the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) filed a reply brief in South Carolina federal court on July 31 arguing that the court should exclude the opinions of three of the plaintiffs’ experts in three cases in the MDL because they are inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
August 01, 2025
Plaintiffs’ RCRA Lawsuit Alleges Perdue Farms Tainted Groundwater With PFAS

BALTIMORE — Two Maryland residents have filed a citizen suit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) against Perdue Farms Inc. and its affiliates in Maryland federal court, seeking seek declaratory and injunctive relief to remedy Perdue’s alleged violations of law, which the plaintiffs say have resulted in per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) contamination of local groundwater supplies.
August 01, 2025
City Sues PFAS Makers For Cleanup Costs, Damages Related To Water Contamination

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A city in Florida has filed an amended complaint in South Carolina federal court arguing that E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and others are liable for contaminating the local groundwater with per- and poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) because they made and sold products that contain PFAS and because they are responsible for discharging PFAS into the environment.
July 31, 2025
8th Circuit Panel Grants Motions To Vacate Appeal In NEPA Final Rule Dispute

ST. LOUIS — A panel of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal as moot and vacated a lower court’s ruling that granted summary judgment to states that had challenged the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) implementing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on grounds that the regulations, known as the final rule, illegally sought to transform NEPA’s “carefully delineated procedures for environmental reviews” into “requirements to achieve broad and vague policy goals.”
July 31, 2025
Judge ‘Misinterprets’ Law In Camp Lejeune Vapor Intrusion Memo, Plaintiffs Say

RALEIGH, N.C. — The plaintiffs in the Camp Lejeune water crisis litigation filed a brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that the memorandum and recommendation issued by a federal magistrate judge who suggests that the district court should bar the plaintiffs from introducing any evidence or testimony related to vapor intrusion for the purpose of meeting the causation burden in the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) “misinterprets the CLJA and overlooks other admissible uses of the evidence regarding” vapor intrusion (VI).
July 30, 2025
Reconsideration Denied In Putative Class Suit Over PFAS In Costco Baby Wipes

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on July 29 denied Costco Wholesale Corp.’s motion for reconsideration of a ruling denying its motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that Costco’s Kirkland Signature Baby Wipes contain unsafe levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), writing that Costco failed to show a “change of law” that would merit reconsideration.
July 30, 2025
Firefighter Says PFAS In ‘Turnout’ Gear, AFFF In Foam Caused His Cancer

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A lawsuit filed by a firefighter against 3M Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and others alleging that he has developed cancer from exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in protective clothing specifically designed for firefighters and in nonmilitary specification firefighting foam known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) was added to the multidistrict litigation for AFFF pending in South Carolina federal court, according to a note posted to the docket on July 29.
July 30, 2025
Putative Class Suit Alleging ‘Huggies’ Baby Wipes Contain PFAS Dismissed By Judge

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action against the maker of “Huggies” baby wipes for failing to disclose that the product contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), writing that the plaintiffs did not allege that the amount of PFAS found in the product by independent testing renders the wipes defective, dangerous or toxic.
July 23, 2025
Monsanto: Glyphosate Case Is A ‘Clean Vehicle’ To Resolve FIFRA Preemption Split

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Monsanto Co. argues in a July 23 reply brief that “there is an open and acknowledged split” as to whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts state law failure-to-warn claims based on the content of pesticide product labels, related to the herbicide Roundup and, therefore, the U.S. Supreme Court should grant review to one of three separate but related petitions for certiorari Monsanto has filed that stem from a companion case in which a man was awarded $1.25 million in damages.
July 23, 2025
Judge Issues Judgment Of More Than $1.54M In Camp Lejeune Phone Call Case

WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia on July 22 granted in part and denied in part a motion for a default judgment award of $1,540,500 in a lawsuit over alleged illegal phone calls soliciting clients for mass tort cases relating to toxic waterexposure at Camp Lejeune, ruling that while there were violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), there is no evidence that notice was provided to the class members regarding the lead plaintiff’s motion for attorney fees and costs.
July 22, 2025
150 Plaintiffs Sue Monsanto For Injury, Wrongful Death Related To Roundup

WILMINGTON, Del. — A group of attorneys has filed two separate, largely identical complaints against Monsanto Co. in Delaware state court, representing a total of 150 plaintiffs who allege that exposure to the herbicide Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate caused them to develop cancer or that Roundup is responsible for the wrongful death of one of their loved ones.
July 21, 2025
Workers Sue Chemical Plant Operator For Injuries From Exposure To Mercury

ATLANTA — Workers at a chlor-alkali facility have filed a mass action lawsuit in Georgia federal court contending that the operators of the chemical plant knowingly exposed the workers, contractors and some family members to dangerous and harmful levels of mercury, resulting in a variety of bodily injuries.
July 21, 2025
Trump Exempts Medical Sterilization Companies From Following EPA Emissions Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order exempting medical sterilization facilities from having to comply with emissions standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for ethylene oxide (EtO), a chemical used in medical sterilization that has been the subject of litigation brought by individuals who contend that they developed cancer from living near sterilization facilities.
July 18, 2025
Monsanto ‘Actively Suppressed’ Roundup’s Toxicity, Caused Cancer, Couple Says

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A couple has sued Monsanto Co., its parent companies and other affiliated entities in California state court arguing that they are liable for causing the husband’s cancer by exposing him to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup. The couple says Monsanto “actively suppressed scientific information that confirmed Roundup’s toxicity and lied about its safety.”
July 18, 2025
Judge Remands Agent Orange Benefits Case, Says Board Failed To Weigh Evidence

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has remanded a veteran’s claim for benefits from exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange and other chemicals, ruling that the Board of Veterans’ Appeals erred in multiple ways when it refused his benefits claim because the board failed to properly weigh the probative value of the evidence related to his exposure and its connection to his military service.
July 17, 2025
Judge Suggests Partial Ban On Vapor Intrusion Evidence In Camp Lejeune Case

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal magistrate judge in North Carolina has issued a memorandum and recommendation in which he suggests that the district court should grant in part a motion filed by the government in the Camp Lejeune water crisis litigation and bar the plaintiffs from introducing any evidence or testimony related to vapor intrusion for the purpose of meeting the causation burden in the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA), but otherwise should deny the government’s attempt to exclude that evidence.