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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

October 10, 2024
Judge Dismisses PFAS Diaper Class Action, Says Allegations Not Plausibly Alleged

NEW YORK— A federal judge in New York has dismissed a putative class action lawsuit brought by a woman who contended that the maker of diapers falsely advertised that its product was free from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which the plaintiff said induced her to spend more money on the diapers. The judge held that the complaint failed to plausibly allege that the diapers were mislabeled.
October 10, 2024
Plaintiffs In 18 AFFF Cases Seek To Amend Complaints To Add Specific Injuries

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Plaintiffs in 18 lawsuits filed an omnibus motion in South Carolina federal court on Oct. 9 to amend their complaints to add specific injuries they allege were caused by exposure to the firefighting agent aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
October 09, 2024
Agencies: EPA Flouted The Process When It Issued PFAS Drinking Water Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two associations representing agencies that provide drinking water have filed an opening brief in consolidated litigation in the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s rulemaking related to regulations for multiple types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) flouted the “carefully prescribed risk evaluation and standard setting process” of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
October 09, 2024
EPA: Water Systems Nationwide Must Replace Lead Service Lines Within 10 Years

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule on Oct. 8 requiring drinking water systems across the country to identify and replace lead pipes within 10 years.
October 08, 2024
Vermont: 3M’s Removal Of PFAS Case Was ‘Untimely,’ Remand Ruling Was Proper

NEW YORK — The state of Vermont has filed a response brief in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it should rule that the state’s lawsuit for alleged contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) against the 3M Co. was removed from Vermont state court to federal court in an untimely manner.
October 08, 2024
DuPont Seeks To Seal More Documents In PFAS Case

WILMINGTON, N.C. — In the long-running lawsuit brought by residents against E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co., now known as EIDP Inc., and two affiliates (collectively, DuPont) in North Carolina federal court over alleged contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the companies have filed a brief in support of yet another motion to keep certain documents under seal. The documents at issue in the current filing are declarations and expert reports that DuPont argues contain “sensitive, nonpublic, commercial business information.”
October 08, 2024
Company Seeks Protective Order Preventing Deposition In Hair Relaxer Case

CHICAGO — Namasté Laboratories LLC filed a reply brief in Illinois federal court arguing that it should grant the company’s motion for a protective order precluding the plaintiffs’ deposition regarding custodial files in a class action over injuries allegedly caused by toxic chemicals in hair relaxer products. Namaste says the files in question were deleted before 2019, and it maintains that the plaintiffs do not point to a legal authority requiring the company to explain the circumstances surrounding the deletion.
October 08, 2024
Insurer Failed To Prove Hydrofracking Exclusion Bars Coverage For Underlying Suits

MIDLAND, Texas — A Texas federal judge denied an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a dispute over reimbursement for underlying lawsuits arising out of an explosion at a saltwater facility because the insurer failed to meet its burden of proving that the policy’s hydrofracking exclusion or commercial general liability exclusion bar coverage for the underlying suits.
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) and 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.