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Mealey's Toxic Torts

  • April 20, 2026

    Judge Denies Monsanto’s Bid For Summary Judgment In Vermont School PCB Case

    BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge in Vermont has denied Monsanto Co.’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the Burlington School District’s (BSD) lawsuit alleging the company is liable for contaminating Burlington High School (BHS) with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), ruling that “Monsanto knew that PCBs were toxic and that they caused harm to humans and animals.”

  • April 20, 2026

    States Are Not Permitted To Put Warnings On Herbicide Labels, Monsanto Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Monsanto Co. on April 17 filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in its merits case over whether the federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts label-based state failure-to-warn claims in situations where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not required a warning, arguing that “while Congress preserved a role for states, that role did not extend to safety warnings on the label.”

  • April 20, 2026

    Judge: City’s Motion To Remand PFAS Case ‘Ignores The Logic’ Of Transfer Order

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — The federal judge in South Carolina presiding over the multidistrict litigation for claims related to the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) has denied a motion to remand a lawsuit filed by Wausau, Wis., against paper mills and other industrial facilities for alleged contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ruling that the city’s motion “completely ignores the logic” of the transfer order issued by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL or JPML).

  • April 17, 2026

    Reconsideration Of Pollution Exclusion Ruling Not Warranted, Insured Says

    LOS ANGELES — Reconsideration of a California federal judge’s finding that an insurer has a duty to defend its insured for underlying silica bodily injury suits is not warranted because the insurer repeats the same arguments presented in its summary judgment briefing and already rejected by the court, the insured maintains in response to the insurer’s motion.

  • April 17, 2026

    WWII Crude Oil Operations ‘Relate To’ Aviation Gas Contracts, Supreme Court Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oil companies’ well drilling activities in Louisiana during World War II sufficiently relate to government contracts involving the production of aviation gasoline and trigger federal jurisdiction under 2011 amendments to the federal officer removal statute, the U.S. Supreme Court said today.

  • April 16, 2026

    Man Says Monsanto’s ‘Negligent’ Conduct Caused His Cancer, Damages Warranted

    BISMARCK, N.D. — A man with cancer has sued Monsanto Co. in North Dakota federal court seeking damages as a result of the company’s “negligent and wrongful conduct” related to manufacturing and selling the herbicide Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate, which he contends is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable to be marketed and sold.”

  • April 16, 2026

    3rd Circuit: ‘No Error’ In Ruling That Barred Man’s Glyphosate Cancer Claims

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has issued a nonprecedential per curiam opinion saying “we discern no error” in a lower court’s judgment that a man’s lawsuit against Monsanto Co. alleging that he developed cancer from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, was barred by the statute of repose in the Indiana Products Liability Act (IPLA).

  • April 16, 2026

    Judge: Plaintiffs Sufficiently Plead Some Toxic Exposure Claims, Others Barred

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal judge in Kansas has ruled that some claims in one of the cases that constitute a consolidated putative class action related to toxic chemical exposure are barred by a 10-year statute of repose but said that other plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded causation by alleging that the defendant leaked high levels of ethylene oxide (EtO) and other chemicals into the environment.

  • April 15, 2026

    Judge Says PFAS Case Belongs In State Court Based On Plaintiffs’ AFFF Disclaimer

    ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in Missouri has remanded to state court an injury lawsuit against 3M Co. for exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in protective gear worn by firefighters, ruling that in light of the plaintiffs’ disclaimer of any potential claims arising out of exposure to the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), federal jurisdiction is lacking.

  • April 15, 2026

    Plaintiffs’ Amend PFAS Smartwatch Case Against Apple, Adding Proposed Subclasses

    SAN FRANCISCO — A putative class has filed a second amended complaint in California federal court against Apple Inc., alleging that its smartwatch bands contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), adding proposed subclasses and striking some claims.

  • April 14, 2026

    Parties To Pay Maryland $2.2M For Lead-Paint Contamination, Abatement Violations

    BALTIMORE — The owner of a broadcasting tower and a painting company have agreed to pay $2.2 million in penalties to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for lead-based paint contamination of soil and water that occurred when the painting company performed lead paint abatement work on the broadcasting tower and did not properly contain the hazardous waste.  The MDE also penalized the broadcasting tower for hiring a painting company that was not accredited and authorized to perform lead-paint abatement services in the state.

  • April 14, 2026

    Roundup Label-Based Lawsuits ‘Aid’ FIFRA’s Objectives, Former EPA Officials Say

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former EPA employees have filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that “the fact that EPA approved labeling without a cancer warning cannot be understood as an implicit rejection of such a warning and does not preempt” a label-based failure-to-warn claim under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) regarding the herbicide Roundup, in a case slated for oral argument on April 27.

  • April 13, 2026

    Insured Entitled To Defense In Underlying Silica Exposure Suits, Federal Judge Says

    LOS ANGELES — An insured is owed a defense for underlying bodily injury suits stemming from exposure to silica and other toxins in the insured’s stone products because the underlying suits contain allegations that fall outside of the policies’ silica exclusion, a California federal judge said in denying the insurers’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.

  • April 13, 2026

    Silica Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For All Underlying Claims, Judge Says

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by insurers seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed to an insured for underlying silica exposure personal injury suits because the silica exclusion cannot apply as the underlying plaintiffs allege that substances other than silica may have caused their injuries.

  • April 10, 2026

    Amazon To Pay $20.5M To Settle Oregon Data Center RCRA Claims; Objection Possible

    PENDLETON, Ore. — While Amazon Data Services Inc. (ADS) has agreed to pay $20.5 million in a class action settlement with a group of residents to resolve allegations that more than a dozen of its data centers in the Lower Umatilla Basin in Oregon contributed to groundwater contamination in violation of state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the defendants in a similar pending lawsuit can object to the terms, as stated in a joint motion to consolidate the two cases.

  • April 08, 2026

    School’s Experts May Testify In PCB Case Against Monsanto, Federal Judge Says

    BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge in Vermont on April 7 denied Monsanto Co.’s motion to exclude the opinions of two experts for the Burlington School District (BSD) in its lawsuit alleging contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), saying that he found no reason to exclude their opinions because they are based on Monsanto’s own statements about its responsibilities to protect consumers and the planet. He also said the opinions in question “appear to be supported by a substantial documentary record.”

  • April 08, 2026

    Maryland Federal Judge Won’t Reconsider Groundwater Pollution Claims In RCRA Suit

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland denied a motion filed by two state residents to reconsider the dismissal of several claims brought in a citizen suit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) alleging that Perdue Farms Inc. and its affiliates contaminated groundwater with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and caused “imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment,” finding that the residents “could not demonstrate standing as to harms to the environment” and failed to show clear error.

  • April 07, 2026

    Woman: Supreme Court Review Not Needed In Dispute Over Expert Admissibility

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should not hear Union Carbide Corp.’s petition for review of a federal appellate court opinion in a dispute over the correct legal standard for the admissibility of an expert in an ethylene oxide (EtO) injury case because “there is no fissure” between the circuit courts in their application of Federal Rule of Evidence 702, the respondent argues in a brief filed April 6.

  • April 07, 2026

    No Coverage Owed For 1 Underlying PFAS Exposure Suit, Magistrate Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge found that no coverage is owed to an insured for one of many underlying lawsuits filed against it alleging injuries related to exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) allegedly contained in aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) that were manufactured and sold by the insured after determining that the underlying suit at issue involves exposure that occurred decades before the insured’s existence.

  • April 06, 2026

    Stanley Tumbler Buyers Fail To Show Lead Causes ‘Material’ Harm, Judge Says

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on April 3 granted a motion filed by the manufacturer of Stanley-brand tumblers to dismiss an amended putative class action lawsuit against it for violating several states’ consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL), by failing to disclose the presence of lead in its products, writing that the plaintiffs failed to allege that the use of lead to insulate the tumblers would harm consumers.

  • April 06, 2026

    Ore. Federal Judge Stays RCRA Case Against Amazon Data Services Pending Settlement

    PENDLETON, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon granted a motion jointly filed by a group of residents and Amazon Data Services Inc. (ADS) to stay proceedings pending a proposed settlement in a class action suit filed against ADS alleging violations of state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) for contributing to groundwater contamination in the Lower Umatilla Basin.

  • April 06, 2026

    Judge Failed To Address California Case Law On Pollution Exclusion, Insurer Says

    LOS ANGELES — Reconsideration of a California federal judge’s finding that an insurer has a duty to defend its insured for underlying silica bodily injury suits is warranted because the judge failed to address controlling California authority that is relevant to the application of a total pollution exclusion in the insurer’s policies as opposed to an absolute pollution exclusion, the insurer contends in a motion to reconsider.

  • April 06, 2026

    Federal Agencies Announce Joint Plan To Address Microplastic Contamination

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have announced coordinated plans to address microplastics contamination of drinking water. The HHS said it will spend $144 million to measure and remove microplastics from the human body, and the EPA released a draft list of water contaminants that includes microplastics as a category for further study.   

  • April 03, 2026

    Judge Revisits Remand Order, Says South Carolina’s PFAS Case Belongs In Federal Court

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari and lifting of a stay, a federal judge in South Carolina denied the state’s motion to remand to state court its case against 3M Co. related to alleged contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). Applying instructions in a March 2025 Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, the judge said 3M has plausibly alleged a colorable federal defense and acted under a federal officer based on its production of a specific kind of AFFF for the U.S. government.

  • April 03, 2026

    Judge: Expert Can Testify For Monsanto On Cost To Rebuild Contaminated School

    BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Vermont federal judge was unconvinced by arguments from Monsanto Co. that experts retained by the Burlington School District (BSD) should be excluded from testifying in support of the school district’s lawsuit alleging contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).