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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

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.
February 07, 2024
Debate Continues Over Statute Of Repose In Monsanto’s $185M PCB Verdict Appeal

SEATTLE — Teachers who won a total award of $185 million against Monsanto Co. in 2021 for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle area school where they taught and Monsanto have each filed additional supplemental briefs in Washington state appeals court in their ongoing debate over the applicability of the statute of repose in the Washington Product Liability Act (WPLA). The teachers contend that the Washington Supreme Court has struck down the statute, and Monsanto insists that the decision upon which the teachers rely for that conclusion involves a case that is “fundamentally different.”
February 06, 2024
Michigan High Court Will Hear Case About PFAS Drinking Water Standards

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Supreme Court granted a petition for review filed by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), which argues that an appeals court erred in holding that EGLE violated the Michigan Administrative Procedures Act when it issued new rules changing the permissible levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water without preparing a regulatory impact statement that included a sufficient “estimate of the actual statewide compliance costs of the proposed rule on businesses and other groups.”
February 06, 2024
11th Circuit Reverses Roundup Ruling, Says Man’s Claim Not Preempted By FIFRA

ATLANTA — A panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 5 vacated and remanded to a federal district court a labeling dispute involving Roundup, ruling that state law failure-to-warn claims related to the herbicide are not preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) or any action of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
February 05, 2024
Washington Federal Judge Denies Monsanto’s Summary Judgment Motion In PCB Case

SEATTLE — Monsanto Co. and several other companies are not entitled to summary judgment on claims arising from the alleged contamination of Seattle’s waterways with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) brought by the city because there are significant questions of material fact regarding causation, liability and damages, a Washington federal judge found Feb. 2 in denying the companies’ motion for summary judgment.
February 05, 2024
PFAS Makers Seek Dismissal Of Amended Complaint For Failure To State A Claim

NEW BERN, N.C. — Corteva Inc. and other affiliates of the company formerly known as E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. on Feb. 2 moved in North Carolina federal court to dismiss a first amended complaint in a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination case, arguing that it fails to state any legally cognizable claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
February 01, 2024
Man: Judge Disregarded Law In Granting Monsanto Directed Verdict; New Trial Needed

ST. LOUIS — A man who lost his glyphosate cancer trial against Monsanto Co. when the presiding judge granted Monsanto a directed verdict has moved in Missouri state court for a new trial on grounds that the judge disregarded Missouri law that requires trial courts to “give the non-movant the benefit of all reasonable inferences in deciding a motion for directed verdict.”
February 01, 2024
Flint Plaintiffs Seek Final Approval Of $8M Settlement With 3 Engineering Firms

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The plaintiffs in the Flint water crisis litigation have filed a brief in Michigan federal court seeking final approval of an $8 million class settlement with three firms that provided engineering and consulting services to the city of Flint in its decision to switch its water supply to the Flint River, a move that precipitated the lead contamination of the city’s drinking water.
February 01, 2024
Company Denies Liability, Says Other Defendants Should Indemnify It In PFAS Case

BOSTON — A defendant in a lawsuit alleging drinking water contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) filed an amended answer in Massachusetts federal court denying the allegations against it, asserting affirmative defenses and raising cross-claims against the other defendants, contending that it is entitled to indemnity.
February 01, 2024
Flint Class, Engineering Firms Settle Water Contamination Claims For $25 Million

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The class plaintiffs in the Flint lead-contaminated water litigation have reached a $25 million settlement with three engineering firms that were involved in the decision to switch the city’s water supply to the Flint River, which resulted in the corrosion of pipes, causing lead to leach into local drinking water, a source told Mealey Publications on Feb. 1.
January 31, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek Approval Of PFAS Class Settlement Worth More Than $1.36 Million

TRENTON, N.J. — Plaintiffs alleging contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have filed a brief in New Jersey federal court supporting a settlement of their lawsuit against the defendant chemical companies that would pay a combined $1,367,975 to three settlement classes, saying the proposed agreement “readily passes muster for its preliminary approval.”