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Mealey's Toxic Torts

  • September 05, 2025

    Phthalate Exposure Linked To Breast Cancer, Study Finds

    MIAMI —  Researchers are publishing a report in a scientific journal about environmental health which concludes that there is emerging evidence that links exposure to phthalates — chemicals found in plastics, cosmetics and food packaging — to “the initiation, progression, and metastasis of breast cancer.”

  • September 03, 2025

    Oil Company Seeks Review Of Ruling That Nullified Its Right To Drill

    SAN FRANCISCO — An oil company on Sept. 2 filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it should review a lower court’s dismissal of the company’s claim for inverse condemnation in a dispute over a default judgment that nullified the company’s zoning clearance to conduct drilling operations because to challenge the lower court’s dismissal of its claims, the oil company had to wait until the district court entered a final judgment.

  • August 29, 2025

    3M Asks 11th Circuit To Reverse Remand Ruling In PFAS Pollution Case

    ATLANTA — The 3M Co. has filed a reply brief in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that an Alabama municipality’s lawsuit for groundwater contamination allegedly from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) belongs in federal court because 3M has made “plausible removal allegations” that any PFAS contamination cannot be “disentangled” from PFAS that was made according to federal specifications.

  • August 29, 2025

    6th Circuit Stays Mandate In Water Pollution Case Pending Supreme Court Petition

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has issued an order staying the mandate in a contentious groundwater contamination lawsuit against federal agencies and Michigan state agencies related to lead pollution in drinking water in the city of Benton Harbor to allow the city time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • August 28, 2025

    State Agency Sues Mobile Home Park For Violations Related To Tainted Groundwater

    CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A Colorado state agency on Aug. 27 sued a mobile home park in state court for violating state law because the drinking water in the park is contaminated with total coliform bacteria, which indicates that other, potentially harmful waterborne pathogens — such as E. coli — may be present in the water.

  • August 28, 2025

    Judge: Groundwater Plaintiffs’ Motion For Judgment, New Trial Lacks Merit

    ALEXANDRIA, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana has denied bellwether plaintiffs’ motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) or a new trial in a groundwater contamination lawsuit, ruling that there is no merit to their argument that they are being denied due process because they did not have the benefit of a fully developed evidentiary record when presenting their claims.

  • August 27, 2025

    Attorneys File Multiple Cases Against Monsanto Alleging Cancer From Roundup

    ST. LOUIS — Attorneys filed five complaints against Monsanto Co. in Missouri federal court on Aug. 26, alleging in each one that the plaintiff has developed a specific type of cancer as a result of exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, and that Monsanto has fraudulently concealed the dangers associated with Roundup. In one complaint, which is indicative of the others, plaintiff James Crank says Roundup is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable to be marketed and sold in commerce.”

  • August 27, 2025

    150 Plaintiffs Sue PFAS Makers Alleging Wrongful Death, Other Injuries From PFAS

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — One hundred and fifty plaintiffs filed a joint short-form complaint in South Carolina federal court on Aug. 26, arguing that E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 3M Co. and others are liable for a variety of injuries stemming from exposure to the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

  • August 20, 2025

    COMMENTARY: A Survey Of State Laws Regulating Third-Party Litigation Funding

    By Mark A. Behrens and Christopher E. Appel

  • August 25, 2025

    PFAS Defendant: Plaintiffs’ Jurisdictional Discovery Request Is ‘Irrelevant’

    BOSTON — A company that is one of several defendants in a consolidated class action for drinking water contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on Aug. 22 filed a brief in opposition in a Massachusetts federal court arguing that the plaintiffs’ jurisdictional discovery motion is “irrelevant and moot.”

  • August 25, 2025

    2 Alabama Municipalities Say 3M Fails To Meet Its Burden For Removal Of AFFF Cases

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two municipalities in Alabama that are suing the 3M Co. and other makers of the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), on Aug. 22 filed a reply brief in South Carolina federal court arguing that remand of their lawsuit is proper because 3M has failed to meet its burden for removal.

  • August 25, 2025

    EPA Says Mandamus Relief Is Not Warranted In Case About Organophosphates

    SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has filed an answer to a petition for writ of mandamus in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that it has not unreasonably delayed action in responding to a 2021 administrative petition filed by environmental groups that seek food tolerance revocations and pesticide registration cancellations for 15 organophosphates.  The EPA contends that the groups have not shown that they are entitled to the extraordinary remedy of a writ of mandamus.

  • August 21, 2025

    Judgment, New Trial Needed In Louisiana Groundwater Case, Plaintiffs Say

    ALEXANDRIA, La. — Bellwether plaintiffs in a groundwater contamination lawsuit have filed a reply brief in Louisiana federal court seeking a judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) or a new trial, contending that the defendant is using the Louisiana Groundwater Act as “both a procedural shield and substantive sword,” and they say that “this blatant contradiction cannot stand.”

  • August 21, 2025

    County: Oil Company’s Appeal Must Be Nixed In Permit Row Involving Local Aquifers

    LOS ANGELES — A county government in California on Aug. 20 filed a motion to dismiss an appeal in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that an oil company that is challenging a default judgment against it that nullified the company’s zoning clearance to conduct drilling operations failed to file an appropriate motion in the lower court to set aside the default judgment in a dispute that involves contamination of local aquifers.

  • August 21, 2025

    Split 4th Circuit Reverses, Says Plaintiff Has Standing In EtO Injury Lawsuit

    RICHMOND, Va. — A split panel of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s ruling that granted summary judgment on standing to Union Carbide Corp. and its affiliate in a lawsuit alleging exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO), ruling that the plaintiffs properly allege elements of West Virginia’s medical monitoring tort and therefore have Article III standing. The majority also said that “none of the reasons for which the district court excluded” the plaintiffs’ expert was proper.

  • August 20, 2025

    Judge: Insured Met Burden Of Showing Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage

    ALBANY, N.Y. — An insured municipality met its burden of showing its insurers owe a duty to defend it against an environmental contamination claim, a New York federal judge said after determining that there is a “reasonable possibility” that the contamination at issue was caused by a fire or an emergency, which are exceptions to the policies’ pollution exclusion.

  • August 20, 2025

    Investors’ Fraud Claims Over Ethylene Oxide Statements Are ‘Flawed,’ Company Says

    CINCINNATI — A company that sterilizes medical equipment has filed a brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it should dismiss the appeal of investors who allege the company committed securities fraud in relation to statements it made about litigation involving a subsidiary of the company over personal injury claims connected to exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO), the chemical used in the sterilization process. The company argues that the investors assert the “same flawed arguments” on appeal that they asserted at the lower court.

  • August 20, 2025

    Panel Reverses, Remands Vermont’s PFAS Case Against 3M Based On Correspondence

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 19 vacated and remanded a lawsuit brought by the state of Vermont against 3M Co. over alleged contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ruling that 3M’s removal of the case to federal court was timely because Vermont’s email to 3M and a letter sent by a state environmental agency “did not provide nearly enough information for 3M to ascertain that the case against it was removable under the federal officer removal statute.”

  • August 19, 2025

    Amici Ask High Court To Rule In Favor Of Couple In Tainted Baby Food Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two lawyer groups on Aug. 18 filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a couple that has sued a baby food manufacturer for allegedly contaminating its product with heavy metals.  Civil procedure professors (CPP) argue that the petition is “simply wrong” in its application of Caterpillar Inc. v. Lewis, while American Association for Justice (AAJ) contends that the baby food company asks the Supreme Court to “adopt a radical new view of the law.”

  • August 18, 2025

    Monsanto: $175M Glyphosate Award Broke With Precedent, Warranting Review

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Monsanto Co. has filed a petition for review in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court arguing that a lower court “broke with decades of precedent” when it affirmed a $175 million jury award to a couple in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit.  Monsanto maintains that the lower court’s decision amounts to “fashioning a new legal standard under which the most coercive ex parte pressure to reach a verdict will never be found prejudicial.”

  • 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

    Federal 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.