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October 20, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge dismissed with prejudice an insured’s claims against an insurer for breach of contract, bad faith and declaratory relief following the parties’ settlement of a dispute over insurance coverage for underlying suits related to exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) allegedly contained in aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) that was manufactured and sold by the insured.
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October 20, 2026
LANSING, Mich. — In response to a motion for partial summary judgment filed in Michigan federal court by insurers in a coverage dispute stemming from lead-contaminated water supplied by an insured city, the underlying plaintiffs say the city’s insurers have a duty to defend the city and pay for the $25 million consent settlement reached by the city and underlying plaintiffs as consequential damages because the insurers failed to show that no coverage is afforded for the underlying class actions filed against the city.
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October 19, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County residents sued Sterigenics U.S. LLC and others in a California court alleging that the operators of sterilization facilities use inadequate technologies to reduce ethylene oxide (EtO) gas emissions, thereby causing the plaintiffs serious and fatal diseases.
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October 19, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses who alleged, through their guardians ad litem, that the cause was the consumption of baby food products containing lead and arsenic failed to identify general causation evidence sufficient to support their claims, a federal judge in California ruled, granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgment in the multidistrict litigation.
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October 19, 2026
POCATELLO, Idaho — An Idaho man who alleges that his repeated exposure to an herbicide containing glyphosate caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) may proceed with his negligence and design defect claims following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Monsanto v. Durnell as “[t]he Supreme Court’s decision was sufficiently tailored” and none of the plaintiff’s “claims are preempted by virtue of Durnell except those specifically related to a failure to warn claim based on labeling,” a federal judge in Idaho ruled, partially granting and partially denying Monsanto Co. summary judgment.
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October 16, 2026
INDIANAPOLIS — In a flurry of recent activity in a case alleging fraudulent transfer of assets involving a trio of former E.I. duPont De Nemours and Co. companies attempting to avoid liability for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) environmental contamination, a federal judge granted a restraining order limiting distribution of assets, stayed that ruling and the defendants appealed the decision and asked the federal judge in Indiana overseeing the matter to stay the case pending possible transfer to multidistrict litigation.
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October 16, 2026
MIAMI — A plaintiff on behalf of a minor with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) sued Gerber Products Co. and Nestlé Usa Inc. in a Florida federal court, alleging that the defendants knowingly sold baby food products that were contaminated with toxic heavy metals and that the defendants’ systematic neurodevelopmental poisoning of infants has contributed in part to the unprecedented epidemic of ASD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) spreading throughout the country.
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October 16, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims affirmed a Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) decision denying a veteran’s claim for benefits based on service-linked hypertension allegedly caused by exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) found at Seneca Army Depot where he was stationed approximately 25 years before PFAS was found at the base.
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October 16, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A split Pennsylvania appeals court on Oct. 15 affirmed a trial court’s $725 million judgment for a service station worker diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and $500,000 for the man’s wife after a jury determined that Exxon Mobil Corp.’s predecessor in interest manufactured and sold defective gasoline containing benzene.
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October 15, 2026
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge issued an order setting a schedule for bellwether jury trials in a mass action brought by current and former servicemembers and their family members against several military housing companies who owned, operated and managed their rental housing at Naval Air Station Key West (NAS Key West) and are accused of concealing toxic mold, asbestos and other conditions at the properties that caused the plaintiffs to suffer various health consequences and emotional distress.
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October 13, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 13 granted Monsanto Co.’s petition for a writ of certiorari in a case brought by a man who says he developed cancer after exposure to the active ingredient in Roundup, vacated the judgment that followed a $28 million combined award for the man and remanded the case to a California appellate court for further consideration in light of the June 25 decision in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell.
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October 13, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion to dismiss or stay a lawsuit pending resolution of a parallel action in Georgia state court after determining that a stay or dismissal is not warranted because it is not clear that all of the issues in the California federal suit related to various insurers’ duty to defend an insured in underlying silica bodily injury suits will be resolved in the Georgia suit.
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October 13, 2026
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Primary and umbrella insurers filed suit in a Virginia federal court seeking a declaration that they have no duty to defend or indemnify their insured, a stone product supplier, against underlying silica bodily injury suits because their policies’ exclusions for silica and pollution bar coverage.
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October 09, 2026
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a town’s putative class action lawsuit against several telecommunications companies for public nuisance, negligence and trespass caused by the companies’ alleged practice of abandoning “toxic lead-sheathed telecommunications cables” due to lack of standing after finding that the plaintiff’s injuries are “speculative” and that it did not bring factual allegations of “contamination.”
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October 09, 2026
The states of Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii and Mississippi and Monsanto Co. and two related entities announced structured settlements resolving the states’ claims of environmental contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls for $132.3 million of up-front and future guaranteed backstops and a possible total of $320 million.
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October 08, 2026
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal magistrate judge granted a motion for an order to show cause filed by insurers in a coverage dispute stemming from lead-contaminated water supplied by an insured city after determining that a former city employee who failed to show up at a deposition must appear before the court to show cause as to why he should not be held in contempt of court for failure to appear at the deposition.
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October 07, 2026
PITTSBURGH — Granting a motion to dismiss in part, a federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim one for medical monitoring trust funds brought by minors who sued a hydraulic fracturing operator, alleging that operations have caused them various injuries.
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October 07, 2026
CLEVELAND — Two umbrella insurers on Oct. 6 filed a notice of cross-appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals following an Ohio federal judge’s determination that the insurers lack standing as no coverage dispute exists based on the finding that the primary insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify the insured in underlying lawsuits stemming from exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
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October 05, 2026
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas federal magistrate judge partially granted a motion to compel discovery filed by plaintiffs in a toxic chemical exposure case after determining that the remaining defendant must produce a number of documents and information related to its facility’s emissions dating back to the date on which the facility was acquired by the defendant because the plaintiffs met their burden of showing that the requested documents and information are relevant.
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October 05, 2026
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Firefighters, unions and the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut (UPFFA) who filed a putative class complaint alleging harm from certain personal protective equipment containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have presented “apparently contradictory positions” on medical monitoring claims, a federal judge in Connecticut wrote, denying the plaintiffs’ motion to certify two medical monitoring-related questions to the Connecticut Supreme Court without prejudice.
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October 05, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — A trial court overseeing the aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) multidistrict litigation erred when it denied on the basis of improper venue California leave to file a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction after its case over per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination was transferred to that court, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, summarily reversing and remanding.
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October 05, 2026
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina clarified that in a Sept. 15 denial of water utilities’ motion to reconsider a May partial denial of a joint motion to remand nine cases in an aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) multidistrict litigation, he also denied the utilities’ request for interlocutory review.
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October 05, 2026
HONOLULU — A federal magistrate judge in Hawaii issued three orders severing three groups of plaintiffs who were set to proceed to fast-track trials in October and November from two consolidated lawsuits related to groundwater contamination from a jet fuel spill at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base and opening new civil cases for those groups of plaintiffs to proceed separately to trial on an expedited basis.
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October 05, 2026
RALEIGH, N.C. — Four federal judges in North Carolina reappointed the Plaintiffs’ Leadership Group (PLG) in the coordinated Camp Lejeune Water Litigation for a year, opining that the previous reappointment order for a period of four months “had the desired effect on the parties and that progress toward a global settlement is being made.”
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October 02, 2026
NEW YORK — In a lengthy docket order, a New York federal judge denied class certification in a suit alleging that Dollar Tree Stores Inc. sold lead-contaminated fruit pouches, adopting a magistrate judge’s findings that individualized questions about each child’s exposure, injuries and medical history prevented class treatment and that the plaintiffs had not established standing or a workable framework for a medical-monitoring class.