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Mealey's Toxic Torts

  • January 06, 2026

    Insured Urges High Court To Review Jurisdiction Ruling In PFAS Exposure Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An insured urges the U.S. Supreme Court to grant its petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that a district court erred in remanding a declaratory judgment claim and retaining jurisdiction over breach of contract and bad faith claims in a dispute over coverage for underlying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure suits, noting in its reply brief that the case presents an “ideal opportunity” to resolve a split among the circuits regarding when a district court is required to exercise discretion over mixed claims.

  • January 05, 2026

    At Supreme Court, And Beyond, Monsanto Relies On Schaffner Preemption Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The latest chapter in the long-running saga of litigation involving Monsanto Co. and plaintiffs who contend that they have been injured by exposure to the herbicide Roundup involves Monsanto’s reliance on the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals preemption ruling in Schaffner v. Monsanto Corp., which Monsanto has made central to its argument in three petitions for a writ of certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court.  The cases are set for conference on Jan. 9.

  • January 05, 2026

    Man Insists Indiana Statute Does Not Bar His $250M Cancer Claim Against Monsanto

    PHILADELPHIA — A pro se plaintiff has filed a reply brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that a lower court incorrectly ruled that his claim for $250 million against Monsanto Co., in which he alleges that exposure to the herbicide Roundup caused him to develop cancer, is barred by the statute of repose in the Indiana Products Liability Act.

  • January 05, 2026

    Judge Denies Amazon’s Bid To Dismiss Case Over Heavy Metals In Rice It Sold

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington has denied Amazon.com Inc.’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a consumer who contends the website is liable for damages and fraudulent concealment in relation to rice that he bought that contained arsenic and other heavy metals.  The judge ruled that the plaintiff plausibly alleged that Amazon has a duty to disclose the presence of heavy metals in rice products because that information is “not publicly known or easily discoverable.”

  • January 05, 2026

    PFAS Defendant: Allegations Are ‘Insufficient’ To Show Purposeful Contact

    WHEELING, W.Va. — A defendant in a lawsuit seeking to recover the costs associated with removing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have tainted local sources of drinking water under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) has filed a reply brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that the allegations are “insufficient to demonstrate any purposeful contact” between the defendant and the state of West Virginia.

  • January 02, 2026

    9th Circuit Panel Reverses, Says Chemical Exposure Case Belongs In Federal Court

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has reversed and remanded a toxic chemical exposure case, ruling that a lower court relied on an unpublished opinion that is not the law of the circuit when it remanded the case based on the local controversy exception in the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

  • January 02, 2026

    Judge: Flint Bellwether Plaintiffs’ Tort Claims Against Government Not Time-Barred

    DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan has ruled that the U.S. government has failed to satisfy its burden of showing that the claims of any bellwether plaintiff are time-barred in the $722.4 million Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit against the government related to the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint.

  • January 02, 2026

    Parties Reach $17.25M Deal To Resolve Dispute Over Ohio Train Case Settlement

    YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has approved a stipulated settlement between Kroll Settlement Administration (KSA) and class counsel in the litigation related to the 2023 derailment of a train operated by Norfolk Southern Corp. in East Palestine, Ohio, under which KSA will pay $17.25 million to compensate the settlement fund for “any alleged violations or errors” it committed in its administration of the $600 million settlement reached in that litigation in 2024.

  • December 23, 2025

    Oregon Federal Judge Partially Adopts, Rejects Water Contamination Case Findings

    PENDLETON, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon, in partially adopting and partially rejecting a magistrate judge’s findings of fact and recommendation, opined that some claims brought by residents against the Port of Morrow and several agricultural companies alleging violations of state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) due to groundwater contamination in the Lower Umatilla Basin should be adopted while others should be dismissed without prejudice.

  • December 19, 2025

    Former Police Officers Sue City Agency For Brain Cancer From Radioactive Waste

    PHILADELPHIA — A former Philadelphia police officer and his wife, as well as the administrators for the estates of two police officers, have individually sued a city agency alleging that it is liable for causing brain cancer because the agency developed a former ammunition arsenal that contained depleted Uranium-238 and radium and made the facility commercial property that housed the office for the Philadelphia Police Narcotics Unit.  Former officer Joseph Cooney contends in his complaint that he is entitled to punitive damages for the agency’s “wanton” conduct that caused his glioblastoma multiforme.

  • December 19, 2025

    Insured’s Partial Summary Judgment Motion In AFFF Coverage Suit Denied

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge denied an insured’s motion for partial summary judgment in an ongoing dispute over coverage for underlying lawsuits filed against an insured and 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 issues pertaining to the payment of attorney fees are premature and that the parties’ briefing on the issue of whether an insurer has a duty to defend one of the underlying suits is not sufficient.

  • December 18, 2025

    Insured’s Bad Faith Claim In Contamination Coverage Suit Cannot Proceed, Judge Says

    NEWARK, N.J. — A bad faith claim alleged against a general liability insurer cannot proceed because the claim is duplicative of the breach of contract claim and the insured failed to meet its burden of showing that the insurer “lacked a fairly debatable reason” for denying the insured’s claim for environmental contamination cleanup costs, a New Jersey federal judge said Dec. 17 in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss the bad faith claim.

  • December 18, 2025

    Fracking Operator Says Injury Case Fails Because Claims Are ‘Legally Deficient’

    PITTSBURGH — A hydraulic fracturing operator on Dec. 17 filed a reply brief in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that it should dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of minors who contend that the company is liable for damages because the claims are “unsupported and legally deficient.”

  • December 17, 2025

    Couple: Stay Of Glyphosate Lawsuit Uncalled For Despite Related Supreme Court Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The attorney for a couple that is suing Monsanto Co. in Delaware state court for injuries allegedly caused by exposure to the herbicide Roundup sent a letter to the presiding judge on Dec. 16 arguing that a stay of the case is not warranted despite activity in a related case in the U.S. Supreme Court and that the plaintiff husband “deserves a trial in his lifetime.”

  • December 16, 2025

    Woman: Monsanto’s ‘Wrongful Conduct’ Related To Roundup Caused Her Cancer

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A woman has sued Monsanto Co. and an affiliate in Delaware state court contending that her cancer is a “direct and proximate result of Defendant’s negligent and wrongful conduct” in relation to the manufacture and distribution of the herbicide Roundup, which she says is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable to be marketed and sold in commerce, and has lacked, at all relevant times, proper warnings and directions as to the dangers associated with its use.”

  • December 16, 2025

    Man With Cancer Says $1.25M Glyphosate Award Not Worthy Of Supreme Court Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man who won a $1.25 million damages award for injuries from exposure to the herbicide Roundup filed a supplemental brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 16 contending that the U.S. government’s amicus curiae brief in support of Monsanto’s petition for review is “incomplete and unpersuasive” because there is no circuit split over whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) forbids Monsanto from warning consumers that exposure to Roundup can cause deadly cancer.

  • December 16, 2025

    Jackson, Miss., Residents Say Criteria For En Banc Review Of Water Ruling Not Met

    NEW ORLEANS — Residents of Jackson, Miss., on Dec. 15 filed an opposition brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the court should reject the city’s petition for rehearing en banc after a panel determined that the residents have valid due process claims related to lead contamination of the local drinking water supply. The residents argue that the petition does not meet the criteria set forth in United States v. Rosciano and the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Won’t Transfer Class Suit Over Lead In Tampons To Ohio

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge denied a tampon manufacturer’s motion to transfer a putative class action lawsuit accusing it of concealing the presence of lead in its tampons in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to federal court in Ohio, where similar claims have been brought against it, finding that transfer would not be convenient for the California-based plaintiffs.

  • December 15, 2025

    COMMENTARY: 2025 Updated Primer On PFAS/Forever Chemical Claims Regulation, Litigation & Insurance Coverage Issues

    By Scott M. Seaman and Gar N. Lauerman

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Denies Bid For Summary Judgment In Chemical Exposure Case

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California has ruled that a class of residents presented substantial evidence that groundwater contamination from volatile organic compounds(VOCs) stemming from circuit board production and other chemical processes has migrated through the soil and onto their property, raising a genuine dispute as to whether there has been physical damage, and, therefore, that the defendants are not entitled to summary judgment on the claims raised by the class.

  • December 02, 2025

    COMMENTARY: PFAS Causation: What Current Scientific Evaluations Suggest About Alleged Health Effects

    By Brian D. Gross, Max Swetman and Mikaela K. Barbour

  • December 12, 2025

    PFAS Makers Say Federal Contractor Defense Bars PFAS Claims Against Them

    RALEIGH, N.C. — Tyco Fire Products LP and Chemguard Inc. (collectively, Tyco) have removed to North Carolina federal court a lawsuit brought by a North Carolina municipality that alleges that Tyco, 3M Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and others are liable for contaminating the groundwater with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF).  Tyco contends that the claims against it fail pursuant to the federal contractor defense.

  • December 12, 2025

    Tannery Operator, Scotchgard Producer Sued For Sloughing PFAS Scraps In Landfills

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The operators of two Michigan landfills that implemented measures to eliminate the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in remnants of solid waste accepted from a former regional tannery operation sued two companies allegedly responsible for the contamination in federal court pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) for recovery of the costs spent to eradicate the issues.

  • December 11, 2025

    Government Says Exclusion Of Expert Reports Would Be ‘Disproportionate And Severe’

    RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. Government on Dec. 10 filed a brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that the Plaintiff Leadership Group’s (PLG) motion to strike supplemental reports filed by a government expert in the Camp Lejeune water contamination litigation constitutes a sanction that is “disproportionate and severe” because the documents in question contain corrections that are contemplated under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26.

  • December 11, 2025

    3M Denies PFAS Liability, Asserts 63 Affirmative Defenses Saying Claims Fail

    TRENTON, N.J. — The 3M Co. has filed an answer in New Jersey federal court denying claims brought by residents who contend that it and other chemical companies are liable for injuries from exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).  Asserting 63 affirmative defenses, 3M argues that the residents fail to state a claim and maintains that any claims made by the plaintiffs are barred because 3M owed no duty to them.