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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

July 16, 2025
Groups Sue EPA Over Water Contamination From CERCLA Cleanup At Tenn. Facility

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several environmental nonprofit organizations representing recreational users of bodies of water in the area of a former U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons facility in east Tennessee are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for implementing cleanup activities that allegedly violate requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 and other federal directives.
July 16, 2025
Judge Issues Sweeping Order On Expert Witnesses In Lead Smelter Litigation Saga

ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in Missouri has issued an order on multiple motions to exclude filed by both the plaintiffs and the defendants, ruling that portions of expert testimony are excluded in a long-running lawsuit brought by Catholic clergywomen and Peruvian children who allege they have been injured by a lead smelter operated by an American company in Peru.
July 16, 2025
Judge: Ohio Train Derailment Case Filed In Illinois Belongs In Ohio Federal Court

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A federal judge in Illinois has transferred an injury lawsuit related to the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, to Ohio federal court, ruling that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio is more familiar with the “factual predicate” of the matter, and there is a great risk of judicial inefficiency if the case were to proceed in a different federal court.
July 15, 2025
Monsanto’s ‘Negligent’ Conduct Related To Roundup Caused Cancer, Plaintiffs Say

WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs have sued Monsanto Co. and an affiliate in Delaware state court seeking damages for “negligent and wrongful conduct” related to the herbicide Roundup, which they argue has caused them to develop cancer.
July 15, 2025
Monsanto Seeks Missouri High Court Review Of $549.9M Roundup Damages Award

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Monsanto Co. has filed a petition with the Missouri Supreme Court seeking review of an appellate decision that upheld a combined $549.9 million punitive damages award for three plaintiffs who argued that exposure to the herbicide Roundup caused their cancers. Monsanto contends that review is warranted because there are “fundamental separation of powers concerns” with respect to a statute that is designed to ensure that a defendant is not forced to pay repeated punitive verdicts arising from the same alleged misconduct.
July 11, 2025
Connecticut Says Federal Contractor Defense In PFAS Case Is Not Colorable

NEW YORK — Connecticut has filed a response brief in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the state’s per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination lawsuit against the 3M Co. and others belongs in state court because the state disclaims the only basis by which the defendants seek removal to federal court. The state argues that it does not assert claims related to the type of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) that was made to adhere to military specifications for the U.S. government.
July 10, 2025
Group Reasserts Standing To Challenge Decommissioning Of Offshore Oil Rigs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An environmental group has filed a combined brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that it has standing and it has a claim that is justiciable under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) against Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and other federal energy officials for their failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) related to the decommissioning of offshore hydraulic fracturing rigs.
July 08, 2025
Ga. Appeals Court Upholds Decision To Exclude Experts As Unreliable In Mold Case

ATLANTA — A Georgia trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that an expert in a lawsuit alleging injuries caused by mold exposure could not testify because the proposed testimony was unreliable, a Georgia appeals court said.
July 03, 2025
Plaintiffs Cross-Appeal As Monsanto Challenges $75M PCB Punitive Damages Award

SEATTLE — Plaintiffs who won 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 have filed notice of a cross-appeal in Washington state court, seeking cross-review of the final judgment and other rulings, in response to Monsanto’s appeal of the verdict.
July 03, 2025
Water Authority Says U.S. Government, Navy Liable For PFAS Pollution Of Aquifer

HONOLULU — A municipal water authority has sued the U.S. government in Hawaii federal court, contending that the government and the U.S. Department of the Navy are liable for tortious conduct by allowing or causing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to be released into an aquifer that the water authority relies on to provide drinking water for residents.
July 02, 2025
Judge Partly Dismisses Claims Over PFAS In ‘Natural Mouthwash’

NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge on July 1 ordered parties to meet and confer over the future schedule for litigation after a district court judge partly dismissed putative class action claims against two consumer products companies for allegedly deceiving consumers and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by selling a “natural mouthwash” product that is alleged to contain PFAS.
July 02, 2025
Procter & Gamble Says PFAS Dental Floss Case Fails For Lack Of Injury, Standing

NEW YORK — Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) on July 1 filed a reply brief in New York federal court arguing that a putative class action filed against it alleging that its dental floss contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) should be dismissed because the plaintiff’s brief opposing the motion to dismiss “does not seriously contest his lack of standing based on his regular purchases” of dental floss after commencing the lawsuit and, therefore, there is a “lack of any genuine injury upon which to premise his claims.”
July 02, 2025
Vermont High Court Partially Reverses, Says PFAS Water Pollution Claims Valid

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont Supreme Court has partially affirmed and partially reversed plaintiffs’ claims against Burlington, Vt., for contamination of their drinking water and property from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), finding that the U.S. government and the National Guard were not necessary parties for the claims, which alleged that the pollution came from activities at Burlington International Airport. The Supreme Court said the case “has to do with what defendant did or did not do to limit the damage by containing the runoff from the foams on its own property,” therefore many of the claims were valid.
July 02, 2025
DuPont Affiliates Seek Dismissal Of PFAS Drinking Water Case Based On Jurisdiction

BOSTON — EIDP Inc. and affiliates of E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. have filed a motion in Massachusetts federal court seeking to dismiss a consolidated class complaint for drinking water contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), arguing that the plaintiffs cannot satisfy their burden of establishing that the district court has jurisdiction.
July 01, 2025
Evidence Lacking For Most Focus Sites In State’s MTBE Pollution Case, Judge Says

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on June 30 granted, with a single exception, a motion for partial summary judgment filed by CITGO Petroleum Corp. and one of its affiliates, which argued that Pennsylvania lacks evidence that shows an “identifiable connection” between CITGO and focus sites where there is contamination from methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). The judge said the evidence presented by the state failed to raise a triable issue for all but one of the sites in question.
July 01, 2025
Hershey: Lawsuit Over Alleged PFAS In Its Chocolate Is ‘Built On A House Of Cards’

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Hershey Co. has filed a motion in Pennsylvania federal court to dismiss a putative class action against it which alleges that certain Hershey’s chocolate candies contain “heightened levels of dangerous, unsafe organic fluorine” and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), arguing that the case is “built on a house of cards.”
July 01, 2025
Government Seeks Appeal Of Flint FTCA Discretionary Function Exception Ruling

DETROIT — The U.S. government has moved in Michigan federal court seeking certification of an interlocutory appeal of that court’s denial of the government’s motion to dismiss the Flint water crisis Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit pursuant to the discretionary function exception (DFE). The government seeks to appeal the ruling, which held that the DFE is inapplicable to the “actions and inactions” of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to the Flint water crisis, contending that the decision involves controlling questions of law and that an immediate appeal “may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation.”
June 30, 2025
Supreme Court Seeks Solicitor General’s View On Monsanto’s Roundup Damages Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 invited the U.S. solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the U.S. government in a case brought by Monsanto Co., which is challenging a $1.25 million damages award for injuries from exposure to the herbicide Roundup. Monsanto contends that “there is an open and acknowledged split as to whether [the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act] FIFRA preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims based on the content of pesticide product labels.”
June 30, 2025
$38M Settlement In Securities Case Tied To Roundup Litigation Gets Initial OK

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on June 27 granted preliminary approval to a $38 million proposed settlement in a securities fraud class action against Bayer AG, the parent company of Monsanto Co., related to statements it made about Monsanto’s science-based trial defenses in Roundup litigation. The judge said the court will likely be able to finally approve the settlement under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e)(2) as being “fair, reasonable, and adequate to the Class.”
June 19, 2025
PFAS Makers’ ‘Conscious Disregard’ For Health Warrants Damages, Plaintiffs Say

LOS ANGELES — Dozens of individuals have sued 3M Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and other makers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in California state court, contending that they are liable for “fraud, oppression, or malice” because they showed “conscious and/or reckless disregard” when they produced PFAS for use in aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which they say contaminates drinking water when used to fight chemical fires.
June 19, 2025
Monsanto’s Roundup Preemption Theory ‘Deeply Flawed,’ Woman Tells Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The respondent in one of three separate-but-related petitions for certiorari filed by Monsanto Co. in the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of preemption of claims related to the herbicide Roundup under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) filed a brief on June 18 arguing that the court should deny the petition because Monsanto’s theory is “deeply flawed” and that the reasons for denial are the same as in the companion case Monsanto Co. v. Durnell. In that case, John L. Durnell, who was awarded $1.25 million in damages, argues that Monsanto’s petition “presents one company’s attempt to avoid further tort claims. And no company is less deserving of such sweeping immunity than Monsanto.”
June 19, 2025
Agency To Allocate $10M For Research Into Health Impact Of Ohio Train Derailment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the aftermath of the chemical releases in East Palestine, Ohio, following the derailment of a train operated by Norfolk Southern Railway Corp., the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) on June 19 announced a plan to allocate up to $10 million over five years to fund awards to organizations to conduct a research study of long-term health concerns related to the chemical exposure in the community.
June 18, 2025
Monsanto Says School District Not Entitled To Additional Depositions Of Witnesses

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Monsanto Co. filed a reply brief in Vermont federal court on June 17, arguing that a school district’s opposition to the company’s motion to quash the district’s Rule 30(b)(6) notice for deposition and motion for a protective order fails. Monsanto also contends that the district has already been given a “full and fair opportunity to explore” the topics about which it seeks information in its current notice of deposition.
June 18, 2025
High Court Has ‘Every Reason’ To Hear Roundup Damages Appeal, Monsanto Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Monsanto Co. has filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court contending that “there is an open and acknowledged split as to whether [the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act] FIFRA preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims based on the content of pesticide product labels,” therefore there is “every reason for this Court to grant certiorari” in Monsanto’s challenge to a $1.25 million damages award for injuries from exposure to the herbicide Roundup.
June 17, 2025
Companies Say Pennsylvania Lacks Evidence Connecting Them To MTBE Contamination

NEW YORK — CITGO Petroleum Corp. and one of its affiliates have filed a summary judgment reply brief in New York federal court arguing that Pennsylvania lacks evidence that shows an “identifiable connection” between CITGO and focus sites where there is contamination from methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).