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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

June 04, 2025
6th Circuit Vacates, Remands Jurisdiction Decision In PFAS Coverage Suit

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s decision to retain jurisdiction over breach of contract and bad faith claims and to remand a declaratory judgment claim after determining that the lower court should have retained jurisdiction over all the claims in the insured’s suit seeking coverage for underlying perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS) exposure suits because all of the claims at issue present the same legal issues.
June 02, 2025
Judge: Case Against Attorney General For Flint Water Crisis Prosecution Fails

DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan on May 30 dismissed with prejudice a second amended complaint filed by former state official Richard L. Baird against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Assistant Attorney General and Solicitor Fadwa A. Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy related to their criminal prosecution of him in connection with the Flint water crisis, ruling that “since he did not suffer an underlying constitutional harm, Baird cannot proceed with a civil conspiracy claim.”
May 28, 2025
COMMENTARY: Tennessee Passes First-Of-Its-Kind Law To Require “Sound Science” In Environmental Regulations

By Mark A. Behrens and Joseph T. Zaleski
May 30, 2025
Young Montana Residents Sue Trump, Federal Agencies For GHG Pollution Exposure

BUTTE, Mont. — A group of 22 minors and young adults in a May 29 complaint asks a federal judge in Montana to rescind and declare unconstitutional a series of executive orders issued by President Donald J. Trump and his administration that include directives to increase fossil fuel production, alleging fossil fuel greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution is “destroying the foundation of” their lives and infringing on their constitutional rights.
May 30, 2025
Judge Refuses To Reduce $75M Punitives Award Against Monsanto In Seattle PCB Case

SEATTLE — A state court judge in Washington has denied Monsanto Co.’s motion to reduce a $75 million punitive damages award that was part of a combined verdict of $100 million for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle area school, ruling that Monsanto “unreasonably continued the conduct” that formed the basis of the jury’s punitive damages award, and an offset or credit for damages previously paid in other cases related to the same school “must be disallowed.” The judge also denied Monsanto’s motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial.
May 30, 2025
4th Circuit Refuses En Banc Rehearing Of Decision Denying Remand Of AFFF Case

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a request for rehearing en banc sought by the states of Maryland and South Carolina related to a panel’s split decision to deny the states remand in their injury lawsuits against the 3M Co. related to exposure to the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF).
May 29, 2025
Firm Files 8 Glyphosate Cancer Cases Against Monsanto Alleging ‘Wrongful Conduct’

ST. LOUIS — One law firm filed eight separate lawsuits docketed May 28 in Missouri federal court against Monsanto Co. on behalf of plaintiffs who claim that exposure to the herbicide Roundup caused them to develop cancer. In one of the cases, Danielle Adeeb argues that Monsanto is liable for “negligent and wrongful conduct” because glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable to be marketed and sold.”
May 29, 2025
3M Says Federal Jurisdiction Applies To Alabama Town’s PFAS Water Pollution Case

ATLANTA — The 3M Co. has filed a brief in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that a district court erred when it remanded to state court a case brought by a town in Alabama that has sued 3M for groundwater contamination allegedly from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). The company contends that it plausibly alleges that at least some of the alleged contamination resulted from AFFF that was produced for the U.S. military pursuant to rigorous military specifications and, therefore, federal jurisdiction applies.
May 29, 2025
Companies Seek High Court Ruling That State Jurisdiction Over Paraquat Cases Fails

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chemical companies have filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear their appeal of a ruling in a product liability case related to exposure to the pesticide paraquat. The companies say the Supreme Court should rule that the commerce clause and the due process clause are violated when a defendant without substantial operations in a particular state is subject to lawsuits brought in that jurisdiction.
May 28, 2025
Missouri Panel Affirms $549.9M Award Against Monsanto In Roundup Cancer Lawsuit

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An appellate court panel in Missouri ruled May 27 that a trial court did not commit evidentiary errors and that the $549.9 million in punitive damages, awarded by a jury for three plaintiffs who sued Monsanto Co. alleging that exposure to the herbicide Roundup caused their cancers, is not excessive.
May 28, 2025
Judge Hands Pennsylvania A Win On Assumption Of Risk Issue In MTBE Dispute

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has granted Pennsylvania partial summary judgment on affirmative defenses asserted by Exxon Mobil Corp. and its affiliates in a long-running case alleging groundwater contamination from the presence of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), ruling that the defendants cannot succeed at trial with their assumption of risk defense and that the fact that the state did not prohibit the use of MTBE in gasoline “does not mean that it assumed the risk of any outcome of that activity.”
May 27, 2025
‘Make America Healthy Again’ Report Calls For ‘Enhanced Oversight’ Of Chemicals

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a report titled “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) that declares that “today’s children are the sickest generation in American history in terms of chronic disease” and lists multiple steps to be taken by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other unspecified government parties to conduct “regulatory reform and enhanced oversight” of numerous chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
May 22, 2025
Judge Dismisses Complaint Alleging That Medication Contained Benzene As Preempted

CHICAGO — A group of consumers who allege that over-the-counter medicine sold by Walgreens Inc. contained benzene have standing to sue, an Illinois federal judge found, but he agreed to dismiss the complaint after finding that federal law prohibited Walgreens from changing the drug’s label.
May 22, 2025
Roundup Trial Begins With Differing Views On Science, Cancer And Monsanto’s Role

ST. LOUIS — Attorneys in a glyphosate cancer trial against Monsanto Co. related to the herbicide Roundup on May 21 finished presenting opening arguments in Missouri state court, with the plaintiff’s counsel contending that Monsanto’s conduct in selling the product was “unacceptable and unreasonable,” and the company’s attorney arguing that “the evidence, the facts and the science prove that Roundup does not cause cancer.”
May 22, 2025
Parties Voluntarily Dismiss Methane Case, Agree With EPA On Lack Of Liability

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Oil and Gas Association (MOGA) on May 21 voluntarily dismissed their methane waste emissions charge lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups in Michigan federal court, saying that in light of the fact that the EPA agrees “that no charge can lawfully be imposed or collected until it takes further, final action to implement the charge,” the chamber of commerce and the oil and gas association “understand that their members have not accrued, and will not accrue, liability” under the Clean Air Act (CAA).
May 20, 2025
Government Balks At Bid To Compel Firm’s Billing Records For Work At Camp Lejeune

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. government on May 19 filed a brief opposing a motion to compel in North Carolina federal court arguing that it has produced all Camp Lejeune-related billing records sought by the Plaintiffs Leadership Group (PLG) related to work performed by an environmental and groundwater consulting firm before the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) was enacted and that “the burden and expense” of requiring the firm to look for additional billing records “far exceeds the benefit considering the extensive information that PLG has already received.”
May 20, 2025
Herbicide Distributer: Glyphosate Cancer Claims Fail, Dismissal Warranted

SAN FRANCISCO — A company that distributes herbicides on May 19 filed a reply brief in California federal court in support of its motion for summary judgment that it is not liable for a man’s cancer diagnosis from exposure to the herbicide Roundup because it did not sell Roundup to the utilities company that employed the plaintiff as a member of a crew that managed vegetation through the use of chemical pesticides.
May 19, 2025
Coal Miner Insists RFK Jr.’s Cuts To NIOSH Black Lung Program Violate The Law

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two days after a federal judge in West Virginia issued an injunction enjoining the reduction in force (RIF) notice at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Respiratory Health Division in Morgantown, W.Va., a coal miner with black lung filed a brief arguing that the judge should deny a motion to dismiss his putative class action against Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., insisting that he has standing for his claim that Kennedy violated federal law when he terminated the majority of staff at the NIOSH office.
May 19, 2025
Amici Tell Supreme Court Ruling ‘Flies In The Face Of’ FIFRA Preemption

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several parties have filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Monsanto Co., which seeks review of a $1.25 million damages award won by a man who sued the company for injuries from exposure to the herbicide Roundup. In one brief, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others argue that the lower court’s decision “flies in the face of” the preemption provision in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and say a state may not adopt labeling requirements that are “in addition to or different from” those required under FIFRA’s regulatory framework.
May 19, 2025
In Removing Case To Federal Court, PFAS Makers Say They Are Immune From Liability

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chemical companies have removed to Ohio federal court a lawsuit brought by a water company that alleges that its water supply has been tainted with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), arguing that, not only does the case belong in a federal forum, but the defendants are immune from liability based on the federal government contractor defense recognized in Boyle v. United Technologies Corp.
May 16, 2025
Judge Says Class Has Plausible Claim Against Costco Related To PFAS In Baby Wipes

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has ruled that under current pleading standards, Costco Wholesale Corp.’s motion to dismiss a class action alleging that Kirkland Signature Baby Wipes contain unsafe levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), “must be denied,” because the plaintiff has a plausible claim for economic injury.
May 16, 2025
Judge Grants DuPont’s Request For Lone Pine Order In PFAS Drinking Water Cases

NEW BERN, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina has granted the request of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and its affiliates for a Lone Pine case management order requiring plaintiffs to submit expert declarations confirming their injuries and proximate causation in numerous separate but related lawsuits alleging that DuPont is liable for contaminating drinking water with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The lead case involves Eric Conklin, a man with cancer who says DuPont has a history of “willfully and wantonly” discharging PFAS into the Cape Fear River.
May 15, 2025
Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Seek Records Of Firm That Worked For Justice Department

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Plaintiffs Leadership Group (PLG) in the Camp Lejeune water crisis litigation filed a brief arguing that the judge presiding over the case in North Carolina federal court should compel the production of billing records from an environmental and groundwater consulting firm prior to 2022, before the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) was enacted, but at a time the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claims the firm was contracted to work on the DOJ’s defense of litigation related to Camp Lejeune.
May 15, 2025
5th Circuit: Deepwater Horizon Case Properly Dismissed For Lack Of Causation

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a district court correctly excluded a plaintiff’s expert and dismissed for lack of causation his case against BP Exploration & Production and its affiliate related to alleged injuries from exposure to chemicals during remediation activities following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
May 15, 2025
Woman With Cancer Says Monsanto ‘Actively Concealed’ True Risks Of Roundup

SHERMAN, Texas — A woman with cancer on May 14 sued Monsanto Co. in Texas federal court arguing that it is liable for “misconduct and gross negligence” with respect to the manufacture and sale of the herbicide Roundup, which she says “contains no warnings relative to the health hazards caused by exposure” to it. She insists that Monsanto “actively concealed” the true risks associated with Roundup.