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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

February 26, 2024
Monsanto Not Entitled To New Trial Following $1.5B Roundup Verdict, Plaintiffs Say

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Three plaintiffs who won $1.5 billion in punitive damages against Monsanto Co. for injuries from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, filed response briefs in Missouri state court on Feb. 23 arguing that Monsanto is not entitled to a new trial because “the evidence, and the evidence alone, justified this verdict.” Likewise, the plaintiffs argue that Monsanto’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) fails because, among other things, punitive damages are warranted.
February 26, 2024
Couple Say Monsanto Has Known Roundup Is Toxic But Misrepresents It As Safe

SAN DIEGO — A husband and wife sued Monsanto Co. in California federal court contending that it is liable for the husband’s injury from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, because the company has “long been aware of glyphosate’s carcinogenic properties.” Furthermore, the couple say that despite having that knowledge, Monsanto maintains that regulatory authorities and independent experts are in agreement that Roundup is not genotoxic and that there is no evidence that Roundup is genotoxic.
February 26, 2024
Man Says Monsanto’s ‘Wrongful Conduct’ Regarding Roundup Caused His Cancer

NEW ORLEANS — A man who claims that he developed cancer from exposure to the herbicide Roundup has sued Monsanto Co. in Louisiana federal court contending that its “negligent and wrongful conduct” caused his injury because glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable to be marketed and sold in commerce.”
February 23, 2024
Jackson Residents’ Second Amended Complaint Claims City, Firm Breached Duty

JACKSON, Miss. — Residents suing Jackson, Miss., and an engineering firm for causing the lead-contaminated water crisis in the city have filed a second amended class complaint in Mississippi federal court contending that the defendants violated the residents’ right to bodily integrity and breached their duty of care to the residents.
February 23, 2024
Companies Cite Federal Officer Jurisdiction In Removing PFAS Case To Federal Court

HARTFORD, Conn. — Three makers of the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have removed to Connecticut federal court a lawsuit brought by the state of Connecticut seeking injunctive relief to address past, present and future PFAS pollution on grounds that federal officer jurisdiction applies.
February 22, 2024
Magistrate: Lead Case Against The Presidio Not Barred By Federal Tort Claims Act

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal magistrate judge in California has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit for lead-paint poisoning brought by tenants who rent a home in the Presidio, a federal enclave administered by the Presidio Trust, ruling that the claims are not barred by the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). However, the magistrate judge dismissed claims for punitive damages and claims against one of the contractors for emotional distress and nuisance, ruling that they were duplicative of other claims.
February 22, 2024
Medical Condition Not Widely Recognized, Testimony Barred In Toxic Exposure Case

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted in large part three motions to exclude expert testimony in a case in which a woman claims medical injuries from toxic mold exposure, finding that one expert was unqualified to opine on a medical condition and that the testimony from the other witnesses was connected to that expert’s conclusions.
February 21, 2024
Parties Debate Disclosing Material Related To Attack On Flint Plaintiffs’ Counsel

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The attorney for three engineering firms that are defendants in the Flint contaminated water litigation that has resulted in a $25 million class settlement sent a letter on Feb. 20 to the presiding judge in Michigan federal court arguing that neither the engineering firms nor the counsel representing them should be required to provide additional information to the court pertaining to the relationship among the counsel, the engineering firms and a public relations agency that, among other activities, arranged for a truck to circle the courthouse broadcasting attacks against the plaintiffs’ counsel.
February 16, 2024
Agency: Evidence Production In Ohio Train Derailment Case Poses ‘Undue Burden’

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) filed a brief in Ohio federal court arguing that it should deny a third-party defendant’s motion to compel the production of certain evidence related to the NTSB’s investigation of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on grounds that the motion imposes an undue burden on the agency.
February 16, 2024
Groups Sue EPA For Withholding Information On PFAS Use In Plastics Manufacturing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two environmental groups on Feb. 15 sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a permanent injunction directing it to disclose under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) all “wrongfully withheld documents” related to the formation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during the fluorination of plastic containers by chemical company Inhance Technologies LLC.
February 15, 2024
Woman Seeks New Mold Trial, Says Directed Verdict Was Granted Erroneously

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — A woman who lost her mold exposure case in Missouri state court has filed a brief in support of a motion to set the verdict aside or, in the alternative, for a new trial, contending that the defendants’ motions for directed verdict were erroneously granted and arguing that the court erred when it ruled that she could not proceed with her negligence claim.
February 15, 2024
Puerto Rico Federal Judge Denies Bid To Dismiss Ethylene Oxide Cancer Case

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A federal judge in Puerto Rico has denied multiple motions to dismiss an ethylene oxide (EtO) lawsuit without elaborating on the reasons for the denials. The plaintiffs allege in their amended complaint that they have been injured as a result of exposure to EtO, which they say comes from a medical equipment sterilization facility near where they live, work and attend school.
February 14, 2024
Judge: 4 CAFA Exceptions Don’t Defeat Federal Jurisdiction Of Fluoride Case

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A putative class complaint by residents of a city in New York seeking damages due to the discontinuation of adding fluoride to the drinking water failed to show that four exceptions to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) apply to their case, a federal judge in New York ruled, denying the residents’ motion to send their complaint back to state court.
February 14, 2024
Judge: Flint Defendant Must Say If Attorneys Knew Of Attacks On Opposing Counsel

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan on Feb. 13 ordered an engineering firm that is party to a $25 million class settlement in the Flint lead-contaminated water litigation to file a declaration informing the court of the names of any of its attorneys who had knowledge of an incident in which a truck was circling the federal court broadcasting attacks against the plaintiffs’ counsel.
February 14, 2024
Monsanto: Directed Verdict Was Proper In Glyphosate Case Due To Changed Testimony

ST. LOUIS — Monsanto Co. has filed “suggestions in opposition” to a man’s motion for a new trial in Missouri state court, arguing that the judge properly directed a verdict in favor of Monsanto at the close of a glyphosate cancer trial because during trial the plaintiff testified to far less exposure to the herbicide Roundup than he did during discovery, and the changed testimony “created a domino effect” in the case.
February 14, 2024
Company: Government’s Reason For Continuance In Chemical Trial Is ‘Utterly Hollow’

NEW ORLEANS — A chemical company sued by the U.S. government in a chemical injury lawsuit involving carcinogenic chloroprene emissions from neoprene manufacturing operations filed an opposition brief in Louisiana federal court on Feb. 13 arguing that the government’s reason for seeking a continuance of the trial that is set to begin in March is “utterly hollow.”
February 13, 2024
7th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Most Lead Paint Cases In ‘Sprawling’ Litigation

CHICAGO — A panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled in a “sprawling array of lawsuits” that all but three individual lead paint cases were properly dismissed by a lower court because most of the plaintiffs chose to proceed under a single complaint “which is now sunk after summary judgment.”
February 13, 2024
Government Says Plaintiffs’ Expert In Hawaii Groundwater Case Should Be Excluded

HONOLULU — The U.S. government on Feb. 13 filed a reply brief in Hawaii federal court contending that it should reject the plaintiffs’ circular reasoning and exclude the reports and testimony of one of their experts under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 because he did not follow a traditional Bradford Hill analysis in the groundwater contamination suit filed by residents against the United States.
February 13, 2024
Plaintiffs Say Bayer Corp.’s Motion To Dismiss Roundup Cancer Case Fails

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs who say they face an increased risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) from exposure to glyphosate because they used the herbicide Roundup while working on a farm have filed a brief in California federal court opposing Bayer Corp.’s motion to dismiss their case contending that their allegations sufficiently allege unlawful conduct.
February 13, 2024
EPA Says Claims Are ‘Too Vague And Ambiguous’ In Water Fluoridation Case

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Feb. 12 filed an answer in a case that is currently in trial in California federal court, arguing that the claims against it for causing an “unreasonable risk of injury” due to the artificial fluoridation of drinking water are “too vague and ambiguous” for the agency to “formulate a response.”
February 12, 2024
Residents Say Their Water Case Against City Of Benton Harbor Was Wrongly Dismissed

CINCINNATI — Michigan residents have filed an opening appeal brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that a lower court erred when it dismissed their groundwater contamination lawsuit against federal agencies and Michigan state agencies related to lead pollution in drinking water in the city of Benton Harbor.
February 09, 2024
North Carolina State Judge Rules Affiliates Assumed DuPont’s PFAS Liabilities

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A state court judge in North Carolina has ruled that affiliates of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (referred to as Old DuPont) contractually assumed Old Dupont’s liabilities related to the use, manufacture and discharge of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which the state contends have contaminated local groundwater.
February 09, 2024
$1.18B Firefighting Foam Deal Between Water Providers, DuPont Gets Final Approval

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina on Feb. 8 gave final approval to a $1.18 billion class settlement in the multidistrict litigation for the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ruling that a class action is the “superior method” of settling the case because the alternative would be for federal judges in 94 judicial districts to adjudicate the claims.
February 09, 2024
EPA Proposes Listing 9 PFAS As Hazardous Substances Under RCRA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on Feb. 8, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests amending its regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to include nine specific per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous waste for the purposes of the law.
February 08, 2024
Monsanto Seeks To Quash Deposition In Vermont School PCB Contamination Case

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Monsanto Co. on Feb. 7 moved in Vermont federal court seeking to quash the Burlington School District’s (BSD) notice of deposition in the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) lawsuit it has filed related to alleged contamination of school buildings and moved for a protective order to the extent that the BSD seeks testimony from a time period other than 1935 to 1977, when Monsanto made PCBs.