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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

August 11, 2025
COMMENTARY: The Forever Chemical: Regulation, Litigation And Insurance

By Robert D. Chesler, Arthur J. Clarke, Walker Prentke, Brian Della Torre and Matthew J. Sinkman
August 15, 2025
Delaware Judge: Deepwater Horizon Injury Case Belongs In Florida For Many Reasons

WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware has ruled that a lawsuit brought by a woman alleging she was injured by exposure to toxic chemicals and oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster belongs in Florida federal court, citing numerous reasons, including that the matter is a local controversy “in which Florida has a strong interest.”
August 15, 2025
Monsanto Appeals $175M Glyphosate Cancer Award To Pennsylvania Supreme Court

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Monsanto Co. on Aug. 14 filed a petition in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appealing a lower court’s decision that affirmed a $175 million jury award to a couple in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit. The ruling was handed down on May 8 by a Pennsylvania Superior Court panel that said it was “unpersuaded by Monsanto’s claim that a punitive damages award in an amount six times the compensatory damages award is inherently violative of due process.”
August 15, 2025
Panel: Plaintiffs’ Expert’s Opinion In Roundup Case Not Based On Sufficient Facts

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has affirmed a lower court ruling that excluded a plaintiff couple’s expert in a cancer lawsuit against Monsanto Co. related to exposure to the herbicide Roundup, ruling that the district court correctly determined that the expert’s opinion was not based on sufficient facts or data as required by Federal Rule of Evidence 702(b).
August 14, 2025
AFFF Makers Want 8 Cases Nixed For Failure To Comply With Case Management Order

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The defendants in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) for the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) on Aug. 13 filed a reply brief in South Carolina federal court arguing that eight cases should be dismissed with prejudice because each of the plaintiffs failed to comply with a case management order that the defendants say requires the plaintiffs to tender complete medical records and certain expert reports or have their cases dismissed with prejudice.
August 14, 2025
Sharply Divided 6th Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc In Benton Harbor Lead Case

CINCINNATI — A sharply divided Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a petition for rehearing en banc in a groundwater contamination lawsuit against federal agencies and Michigan state agencies related to lead pollution in drinking water in the city of Benton Harbor. In a concurrence and two dissents, the judges levelled claims at each other that included a contention by one judge that the majority decision denying rehearing “brazenly defies Supreme Court precedent.”
August 14, 2025
Coca-Cola, Citing Supplemental Authority, Says PFAS Case Warrants Dismissal

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The Coca-Cola Co. has filed a notice of supplemental authority in New York federal court, asking it to consider rulings in two cases as it comes to a decision on the company’s motion to dismiss a class action brought by an individual who alleges that various fruit drinks made by Coca-Cola contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
August 13, 2025
Judge: Government Is Liable For Nearly $600,000 In Damages In Jet Fuel Spill Case

HONOLULU — A federal judge in Hawaii has issued findings of fact and conclusions of law in which she determined that the U.S. government is liable for a total of $598,633.15 in damages to plaintiffs who sued it related to groundwater contamination from a jet fuel spill at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base.
August 13, 2025
Couple Tells Supreme Court That Ruling In Heavy Metal Baby Food Case Should Stand

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A couple has filed a merits brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a dispute over baby food allegedly contaminated with heavy metals, arguing that it should affirm the decision by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which “correctly held that complete diversity was lacking at the time of final judgment,” and “correctly vacated the judgment and remanded the entire case to state court.”
August 13, 2025
Judge: North Carolina Attorney General May Sue DuPont For PFAS Contamination

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina state judge has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the North Carolina attorney general against E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. for contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ruling that the attorney general has the authority to bring the case even though the state statute that granted that authority has been repealed in the years following the initiation of the lawsuit.
August 12, 2025
Government Says Camp Lejeune Vapor Intrusion Evidence Should Be Barred

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. government on Aug. 11 filed a response brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that it should overrule objections raised by the plaintiffs in the Camp Lejeune water crisis litigation as they relate to a magistrate judge’s ruling on the admissibility of vapor intrusion evidence because “there is nothing erroneous or contrary to law” about the magistrate judge’s interpretation of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) or his recommendation to the district court to grant in part the government’s motion in limine barring the introduction of the evidence in question.
August 12, 2025
68 Plaintiffs Say Monsanto Is Liable For Wrongful Death, Cancer Related To Roundup

WILMINGTON, Del. — Sixty-eight individuals have sued Monsanto Co. in Delaware state court alleging that its “negligent and wrongful conduct” related to the design and sale of the herbicide Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate, has caused wrongful deaths and cancers.
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.”