$1.185 Billion Settlement Reached Over Polluted Drinking Water

A federal court recently approved a $1.185 billion settlement concerning drinking water that had been contaminated by forever chemicals in PFAS-containing firefighting foam. The court dismissed objections from three cities and a municipal water district court. If you were injured or a loved one died due to polluted drinking water, you should consult the seasoned Chicago-based product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group. Billions have been recovered in cases we’ve handled; we represent plaintiffs around the country.

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More than 300 lawsuits related to the contamination of the environment due to the PFAS in firefighting foams have been instituted since 2018. Many cases involving PFAS involve claims by numerous individuals that allege personal harm as a result of forever chemicals. However this particular settlement involved municipal water systems that are facing substantial testing and remediation due to the PFAS in their water.

Consequently, the settlement was reached only in lawsuits that named all public water systems in the country that receive water from at least one source that tested positive for PFAS, along with any public water systems that the law requires to test for PFAS. A number of these lawsuits were consolidated in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) based in South Carolina, with a deal announced in June 2023 and receiving preliminary approval in August 2023.

The settlement, which includes the chemical companies Corteva, Chemors, and DuPont, was reached in a class action in which the plaintiffs alleged that the firefighting foam manufactured by the defendants put perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into the local drinking water sources, contaminating them. PFAS is considered a forever chemical because it is a toxin that persists in anything it contaminates, whether the body of a human or the environment. The settlement is intended to cover the costs of remediating polluted public water systems and testing them for PFAS.

The terms of the $1.185 billion settlement will not prevent plaintiffs from suing to address groundwater and soil contamination in the future, and doesn’t apply to state or federally owned system, nor those systems that are supposed to monitor for PFAS or certain other systems, unless they opt in. Fifty percent of the $1.185 billion deal will be contributed by Chemours, while Corteva and DuPont will contribute the other half of the deal.

Three cities in the state of Washington objected to the settlement terms because it argued that the the settlement was inadequate, less than the PFAS-related harms caused by the defendants around the country. These objections were also advanced by the North Texas Municipal Water District. The objections were dismissed on the grounds that the amount of the settlement met the requirements for an adequate settlement and that holding a trial wasn’t needed for the settlement to make sense.

Other settlements have also been reached in connection with forever chemical contamination. In the substantially similar class action involving 3M, a $12.5 billion was reached.

Call the seasoned Chicago-based product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group for a consultation if you were injured by forever chemicals in the water. We represent injured people across the country, and billions have been recovered in the lawsuits with which we’ve been involved. Complete our online form or call us at 312.462.1700.