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

Mealey's Toxic Torts

May 01, 2024
Man’s Knowledge Of Railway Toxins Started FELA Clock, Ohio Court Says

TOLEDO, Ohio — A laryngeal cancer sufferer’s admission that he knew that he worked around potentially hazardous chemicals during his time at a railway and the available information on the hazards of asbestos and other toxins created a duty to investigate the cause of his disease and started the statute of limitations, an Ohio appeals court said in finding a Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) claim time-barred.
May 01, 2024
Panel Dismisses Oil Company’s Appeal Of Zoning Ruling For Lack Of Jurisdiction

LOS ANGELES — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has dismissed for lack of jurisdiction an appeal by an oil company that sought to overturn a California federal judge’s ruling that a decision by municipal authorities that nullified the company’s zoning clearance to conduct drilling operations was valid. The panel did not elaborate on its reasoning for dismissing the appeal.
May 01, 2024
Homebuilders Group’s Amicus Brief Supports 3M In PFAS Dispute With Michigan Agency

LANSING, Mich. — The Home Builders Association of Michigan (HBAM) has filed an amicus curiae brief in the Michigan Supreme Court in support of 3M Co., arguing that a lower court correctly invalidated the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s (EGLE) new rules changing the permissible levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water because EGLE failed to prepare and publish a Regulatory Impact Statement and Cost Benefit Analysis (RIS) that complied with the Michigan Administrative Procedures Act (MAPA).
April 30, 2024
Plaintiffs Say Claims Against Railcar Owners In Ohio Train Case Are Not Preempted

PITTSBURGH — School districts and individuals that sued Norfolk Southern Corp. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (collectively, Norfolk Southern) and railcar owners filed an opposition brief on April 29 in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that a motion to dismiss filed by two railcar owners should be denied because the plaintiffs have properly pleaded each of their claims and the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) does not preempt their claim for negligence.
April 30, 2024
Monsanto’s $336.15M Bond Sets In Motion Appeal Of $549.9M Roundup Punitive Award

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Monsanto Co. has filed a supersedeas bond valued at $336,150,000 in Missouri state court as part of its notice of appeal of a $549.9 million punitive damages award for three plaintiffs for injuries from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.
April 29, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek Approval Of $600M Settlement Of Train Derailment Lawsuit In Ohio

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The co-lead counsel for plaintiffs filed a brief in Ohio federal court on April 26 supporting a motion for preliminary approval of a $600 million settlement to resolve the class action against Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and Norfolk Southern Corp. (Norfolk Southern, collectively) pertaining to alleged injuries from the release of toxic chemicals at the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; a third-party lawsuit among Norfolk Southern and railcar companies continues.
April 26, 2024
EPA Announces 4 Final Rules Aimed At Reducing Power Plant Pollution

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a press release issued April 25, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it has finalized a set of four rules that will reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants by updating standards for coal combustion residual (CCR) storage, heavy metal emissions, wastewater discharges and coal ash storage.
April 26, 2024
Widow Sues Lockheed Martin For Husband’s Death From Toxins At Weapons Plant

ORLANDO, Fla. — A widow has sued Lockheed Martin Corp. in Florida federal court arguing that it is liable for her husband’s wrongful death from “dangerous and reckless mismanagement of extremely hazardous toxins, including but not limited to, heavy metals, persistent environmental pollutants, and volatile organic compounds” (VOCs) at a weapons manufacturing facility.
April 26, 2024
Monsanto Answers 2 Roundup Cancer Cases, Says Reliable Evidence Not Proffered

SAN FRANCISCO — Monsanto Co. filed two answers on the same day in the multidistrict litigation in California federal court related to alleged injuries from exposure to the herbicide Roundup, denying all claims in both lawsuits and asserting affirmative defenses that the claims in both cases are barred because neither of the plaintiffs, John Pawlowski and Ronald Bailey, can proffer any scientifically reliable evidence that the products at issue were defective or unreasonably dangerous.
April 26, 2024
Chemical Producer Fails To Invoke Federal Jurisdiction In Statewide Pollution Row

TRENTON, N.J. — Federal jurisdiction is not proper over claims brought by the New Jersey attorney general and a state agency against a chemical producer for its alleged contamination of the state’s natural resources with carcinogenic chemicals because the claims are based exclusively on state law, a New Jersey federal judge found in remanding the case to state court.
April 25, 2024
Judge Approves Combined Fees, Costs Of More Than $956.18M In AFFF Settlements

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina has approved a combined $956,187,560.75 in attorney fees and costs related to two settlements pertaining to the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). One case involving claims against 3M Co. was settled for $12.5 billion, and the other involved claims against E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., which settled for $1.18 billion.
April 25, 2024
Insurers: Coverage Case In AFFF MDL Should Be Nixed In Light Of Wisconsin Action

CHARLESTON, S.C. — On April 24, insurers filed a brief in South Carolina federal court arguing that it should dismiss or stay a lawsuit brought by a company that makes the firefighting agent known as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), arguing that a “first-filed, more comprehensive lawsuit” in Wisconsin state court involves the same insurance coverage issues should take priority.
April 24, 2024
Panel: Environmental Agency May Sue For Water Pollution Despite Prior Agreement

TRENTON, N.J. — In an unpublished opinion, a state appellate panel in New Jersey reversed and remanded a groundwater contamination case, ruling that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) did not forfeit its right to sue chemical companies as a result of a prior consent order to remediate the hazard.
April 24, 2024
$12.25M Settlement Approved In Neighborhood Class’s Case Over Smokestack Demolition

CHICAGO — A federal magistrate judge in Illinois granted final approval of a $12.25 million settlement between the companies that caused a smokestack to be demolished at a coal power plant in a Chicago neighborhood and a class of residents in that neighborhood who alleged that they were exposed to a “plume of toxic debris and particulate matter” as a result of the demolition, causing breathing issues.
April 24, 2024
Monsanto: School District’s Opposition To Motion To Quash Deposition Should Fail

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Monsanto Co. has filed a reply brief in Vermont federal court contending that the Burlington School District’s (BSD) opposition to Monsanto’s motion to quash the BSD’s notice of deposition in litigation related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the school and the BSD’s challenge to Monsanto’s motion for a protective order related to testimony from a time period other than 1935 to 1977 constitute “a hidden attempt to argue a belated claim that [Monsanto] had a post-sale duty to warn.”
April 23, 2024
Judge Allows Emotional Distress Evidence, Nixes Negligence Testimony In Water Case

HONOLULU — A federal judge in Hawaii on April 22 issued two orders on motions in limine filed by the U.S. government in a groundwater contamination case, ruling that evidence related to medical negligence is excluded but that evidence of the plaintiffs’ emotional distress and purported hearsay evidence about a plaintiffs’ alleged lost wages is not excluded, as residents attempt to hold the government liable for injuries from exposure to jet fuel that was released from a U.S. Navy base.
April 23, 2024
Magistrate Orders Engineering Firm To Produce Documents In Flint Water Crisis Case

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal magistrate judge in Michigan ruled April 22 that an engineering firm that is a defendant in litigation stemming from the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint must provide 40 documents in response to a motion to compel compliance with a discovery order, saying that the judge presiding over the case has already determined that the work product doctrine does not protect the documents in question.
April 22, 2024
New EPA Final Rule Will List 2 PFAS As Hazardous Substances Under CERCLA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency announced April 19 that it will soon finalize a rule that will add two widely used per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of hazardous substances covered by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
April 22, 2024
DuPont Affiliate Seeks Seal Of ‘Private And Confidential’ Material In PFAS Case

WILMINGTON, N.C. — The Chemours Co. on April 19 filed a brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that it should seal non-public information, including information about business operations and strategies that “might reasonably be expected to be kept private and confidential” in the long-running lawsuit brought by residents against E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and its affiliates related to claims that they dumped per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the Cape Fear River, resulting in groundwater contamination.
April 22, 2024
Parties Who Won $275M Against Monsanto For PCB Exposure Say Appeal Lacks Merit

SEATTLE — Students and parents who won a $275 million judgment against Monsanto Co. for injuries from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a Seattle area school have filed a response brief in a Washington appeals court arguing that Monsanto “largely reprises the same attacks” on the verdict that it has made before and that none of Monsanto’s new arguments on appeal has merit.
April 19, 2024
Multiple Appeals Of PCB Verdicts Against Monsanto Pending In Washington State

SEATTLE — The family of a student who won an $82 million judgment against Monsanto Co. for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle area school on April 18 filed a brief in a Washington appeals court responding to Monsanto’s appeal of the verdict, arguing that the company asks the appeals court to set aside the jury’s verdict on “every conceivable ground, advancing arguments it has unsuccessfully raised time and again.” The appeal is one of several in which Monsanto challenges verdicts for other plaintiffs who were exposed to PCBS at the school.
April 18, 2024
School Districts Plan To Fight Vermont’s Expected Move To Stay Monsanto PCB Case

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The 95 school districts that have sued Monsanto Co. in Vermont federal court alleging contamination from the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in school buildings have filed a response to Vermont’s motion to intervene in the case, arguing that while they do not oppose the state’s intervention, they intend to oppose its expected motion to stay the case.
April 18, 2024
Bill Would Exempt Public Water Providers From PFAS Liability

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bill that would exempt certain entities from liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act with respect to releases of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been referred to two committees of the U.S. House of Representatives.
April 17, 2024
Panel Partially Affirms, Reverses Damages Ruling In Water Contamination Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s damages award, holding that it did not abuse its discretion when it permitted a water agency to assert restoration costs as a measure of damages related to contamination from various chemicals, but it remanded the case to amend the judgment regarding recovery of damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), ruling that the trial court wrongly held that the water agency received a double recovery.
April 17, 2024
Engineering Firm Says It Owes Flint Bellwether III Plaintiffs No Duty Of Care

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — An engineering firm that is a defendant in the litigation over the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Mich., has filed a brief in Michigan federal court arguing that the court should grant the firm summary judgment on the professional negligence claims brought by a group known as the Bellwether III plaintiffs because the firm says it did not owe them a duty of care as a matter of law.