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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

October 04, 2024
$25M Flint Settlement With Engineering Firm Gets Final Approval

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan granted final approval on Oct. 3 to a $25 million settlement in the litigation for the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Mich., that resolves claims of residents and businesses that sued an engineering firm that was involved in making the decision to switch the local water supply to the Flint River, which precipitated the crisis.
October 02, 2024
Ohio Refinery To Pay $169M In Penalties, Upgrades For Clean Air Act Violations

TOLEDO, Ohio —The U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency have entered into a consent decree requiring an Ohio-based refining company to pay $19 million in penalties and implement about $150 million in plant upgrades over allegations that the company violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) with hazardous emissions of benzene, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and other air pollutants.
October 02, 2024
Governments, Fracking Operator Reach $15.5M Deal Resolving Toxic Emissions Lawsuit

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it reached a settlement valued at $15.5 million to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at oil and gas production facilities of a fracking operator on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.
October 02, 2024
States: Supreme Court Stay Of Methane Rule Needed To Avoid ‘Irreparable Harm’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of states has filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of their application for a stay of the 2024 Methane Rule instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that “absent a stay, EPA’s gambit to force the States to submit to EPA’s ‘presumptive standards’ will impose irreparable harm upon the States.”
October 01, 2024
Insurer Seeks High Court’s Review Of 4th Circuit’s Ruling In Chemical Exposure Suit

WASHINGTON D.C. — Review of a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that an insurer has a duty to defend an insured for an underlying chemical exposure suit is warranted because the Fourth Circuit incorrectly determined that a duty to defend exists even though the underlying complaint fails to assert any covered claims, an insurer says in a petition for a writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
September 30, 2024
Man Appeals Approval Of $600M Ohio Train Deal, As Judge Grants Fee Award

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — One of the plaintiffs opposing the $600 million settlement in the litigation against Norfolk Southern Corp. over the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released toxic chemicals into the air and soil on Sept. 27 filed a one-page notice of appeal with the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the Ohio federal judge presiding over the case issued an order granting final approval to the deal on the same day. In a separate order, the judge granted attorney fees of $162 million.
September 30, 2024
Schools: Judge’s Denial Of Vermont’s Bid To Stay Dueling PCB Case Should Stand

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Vermont school districts that sued Monsanto Co. in Vermont federal court alleging that it is liable for contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have filed a brief opposing to the state of Vermont’s motion for reconsideration of a ruling in which a federal judge refused to stay the school districts’ lawsuit in favor of the state’s separate-but-related action. The school districts contend that the judge’s treatment of the issues “was thorough in reaching the proper and correct result” and maintain that there are no grounds to reverse the decision.
September 27, 2024
Water Fluoridation Presents ‘Unreasonable Risk’ To Health, Judge Says

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has ruled that plaintiffs have proven that water fluoridation at the level of 0.7 mg/L – the prescribed optimal level of fluoridation in the United States – presents an ‘“unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation under the conditions of use’” and ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to initiate rulemaking for fluoridation pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
September 26, 2024
3rd Circuit Denies Rehearing In Roundup Labeling Lawsuit, Affirming Monsanto’s Win

PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing en banc filed by a couple seeking to overturn a ruling by a Third Circuit panel that handed Monsanto Co. a win when it held that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a state law duty to include a cancer warning on the label of the herbicide Roundup.
September 26, 2024
Monsanto Asks 9th Circuit To Take Judicial Notice Of Documents In Glyphosate Case

SAN FRANCISCO — Monsanto Co. on Sept. 25 filed a reply brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in support of a motion calling on the court to take judicial notice of documents that were identified and incorporated in prior filings by the plaintiffs in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit, arguing that the plaintiffs attached 600 pages of exhibits and other documents, yet now they ask the court not to consider those documents because they “contradict [the plaintiffs’] allegations.”
September 25, 2024
Norfolk Southern: Investors Attempt To ‘Concoct’ Securities Case From Train Crash

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern Corp. and its principals filed a reply brief in Georgia federal court arguing that it should dismiss a securities fraud class action filed against them related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on grounds that the plaintiffs “attempt to concoct securities fraud claims” out of the crash and the stock price declines that followed it.
September 25, 2024
State Seeks Reconsideration Of Ruling, Says Schools’ PCB Case Should Be Stayed

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The state of Vermont has moved in a Vermont federal court for reconsideration of its opinion that denied the state’s motion to stay a lawsuit brought by 95 school districts against Monsanto Co. related to contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), arguing that without a stay there will be two cases “racing one another to resolve the same issues—and to judgment—for the same contamination” in something that is a matter of “urgent statewide public policy.”
September 25, 2024
Plaintiffs Defend $162M In Fees For Train Case, Oppose Attorneys’ Bid For A Cut

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The plaintiffs in the litigation over the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released toxic chemicals into the air and soil have filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court arguing that it should approve their motion for $162 million in attorney fees, reimbursement of $18 million in litigation costs incurred by class counsel and service awards of $15,000 to each class representative because “the settlement has been a success by all measures, as demonstrated by its extraordinary participation rate.” They also argue that attorneys who seek a contingency fee arrangement are “misguided.”
September 24, 2024
California, Environmental Groups Sue Exxon For Single-Use Plastics Pollution

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Attorney General’s Office and environmental groups on Sept. 23 separately filed complaints against Exxon Mobil Corp., accusing it of creating a public nuisance and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) other laws by manufacturing single-use plastics that it misrepresented as recyclable while earning billions dollars from sales of plastic products per year.
September 23, 2024
Judge Says Some PFAS Claims Against DuPont, Affiliates Are Properly Alleged

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina has ruled that some per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination claims against EIDP Inc., formerly known as E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., and its affiliates, have been plausibly alleged. The judge determined that, among other claims, the plaintiffs’ negligence causes of action related to the defendants’ discharge of PFAS into the Cape Fear River are valid.
September 18, 2024
Judge Approves Protocol For Electronic Information In PCB Case Against Monsanto

BURLINGTON, Vt. — In a text-only order entered as a note on the docket, a Vermont federal judge on Sept. 18 granted Monsanto Co.’s motion for a protocol governing electronically stored information (ESI), but denied the company’s requests for a protective order and nixed Monsanto’s bid for an agreement that would have established a procedure for logging protected information produced inadvertently during the litigation brought by 95 school districts against Monsanto Co. related to contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
September 18, 2024
Hair Relaxer Plaintiffs: L’Oréal ‘Conflates’ Issues Related To Document Discovery

CHICAGO — The plaintiffs suing L’Oreal USA Inc. and its affiliates in Illinois federal court over injuries allegedly cause by toxic chemicals in hair relaxer products filed a reply brief in support of their motion to enforce discovery orders arguing that documents held by its parent company, L’Oréal SA, are within the control of L’Oréal USA for discovery purposes and that L’Oréal USA’s opposition to the motion “conflates” the unrelated issues of how discovery searches will be conducted versus what evidence is generally relevant and discoverable.
September 17, 2024
Judge Says States’ Claim That Federal Emissions Rule Is ‘Arbitrary’ Has Merit

BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge in North Dakota has granted a motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining implementation of a rule promulgated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) establishing standards for methane and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to the oil and gas sector, ruling that at the preliminary stage the states have shown that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the rule is “arbitrary and capricious.”
September 17, 2024
No Coverage Owed For Subpoena Issued To Insured In Fire-Suppressing Foam MDL

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — No coverage is owed to an insured distributor of a fire-suppressing foam for a subpoena served on the insured in an underlying multidistrict litigation seeking damages for bodily injuries and contaminated drinking water caused by the use of the foam because the subpoena does not constitute a claim under the insurance policy at issue, a Connecticut federal judge said in denying the insured’s motion for summary judgment and in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
September 16, 2024
Judge Adds Nearly $91M In Damages To Benzene Verdict Against ExxonMobil

PHILADELPHIA — A state court judge in Pennsylvania on Sept. 13 denied ExxonMobil Corp. a new trial and instead added $90,833,561.65 in delay damages to the $725.5 million verdict a jury awarded to a man who was injured from exposure to benzene, bring his total award to $816,333,561.65.
September 16, 2024
Vermont Amends Complaint As PFAS Litigation Against DuPont, 3M Drags On

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The state of Vermont has filed an amended complaint in South Carolina federal court in the latest chapter of a long-running saga of litigation as the state seeks to recover damages from 3M Co., E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and others it says are liable for injuries related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the state’s water supply.
September 13, 2024
Magistrate Denies Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs’ Discovery Request As ‘Overbroad’

RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal magistrate judge in North Carolina denied a motion to compel production of documents sought by the Plaintiffs’ Leadership Group (PLG) in the litigation over water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, ruling that the request for production was “overbroad and otherwise outside the scope” of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(l).
September 12, 2024
Jury Hands Monsanto A Win In Pennsylvania Glyphosate Cancer Trial

PHILADELPHIA — A jury in a Pennsylvania state court on Sept. 12 ruled in favor of Monsanto Co. in a trial for damages brought by a man who contended that he developed cancer from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.
September 12, 2024
Judge Allows Consumer Suit Alleging ‘Compostable’ Bags, Tableware Contain PFAS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge on Sept. 11 granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action against a compostable product maker and Target Corp. for selling tableware and food storage bags that were allegedly deceptively labeled as “compostable” when they in fact contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
September 12, 2024
9th Circuit: Monsanto’s Brief Denying Glyphosate Claims Is Now Officially Filed

SAN FRANCISCO — The clerk of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has issued an order stating that the response brief initially filed under seal in August by Monsanto Co. and Bayer CropScience LP (collectively, Monsanto) in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit is now officially filed. In the brief Monsanto argues that the plaintiff has not plausibly alleged “an unreasonable safety risk” associated with the herbicide Roundup.