Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), a type of firefighting foam, has been linked with multiple cancers, including:
- Testicular cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Liver cancer
- Breast cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Leukemia
Lawsuits allege that AFFF firefighting foam caused people to develop cancer, that AFFF manufacturers knew or should have known that the foam could cause cancer, and that AFFF manufacturers failed to warn about this danger.
Call us today for a free consultation, or text us from this page, if you or a loved one developed cancer after being exposed to AFFF firefighting foam. You may qualify for financial compensation. We don’t charge our clients any fee until and unless we make a financial recovery for them.
2023 AFFF Firefighting Foam Lawsuit Updates
June 2023
On June 5, 2023, the nation’s first bellwether trial in the AFFF MDL will be held in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina. The case is about PFAS in AFFF and Judge Richard M. Gergel will preside over the case. The plaintiffs are expected to call 13 or more witnesses and share 11 or more depositions. The defense is expected to call 15 or more witnesses and share one or more depositions.
The defendants include Dupont De Nemours, 3M Company, Chemguard, Tyco Fire Products, National Foam, Buckeye Fire Equipment Company, Dynax Corporation, Kidde Fenwal, Basf Corporation, Clariant Corporation and Corteva.
The MDL is seeing municipalities and cities filing lawsuits against AFFF distributors and the government for the use and production of AFFF, which allegedly contaminated nationwide water sources with PFAS. According to the EPA, ingestion of or contact with PFAS might cause decreased immunity, an increased risk of cancer, developmental delays in children and decreased fertility. There are over 400 claims by plaintiffs in the docket. The JPML is considering additional tag-along actions. The plaintiffs and defense were ordered by Gergel to submit case proposals for a second bellwether trial by August 11.
May 2023
The United States District of South Carolina is preparing for the first bellwether trial in the AFFF MDL. The trial is scheduled for June 5, 2023. Judge Richard M Gergel will be presiding. Municipalities and cities file suit over the use of firefighting foam which contains PFAS. The foam allegedly contaminated nationwide water sources as run-off. According to the EPA, ingestion of or contact with PFAS might cause cancer, lower immunity, lower fertility, childhood developmental delays and more. Over 400 claims are in the docket, and more claims are up for consolidation in a May 25 hearing.
December 2022
3M announced that it will stop manufacturing PFAS by the end of 2025. However, the number of lawsuits against the company is expected to keep growing for decades, since PFAS persist in the environment and human body for so long.
Over 100 new cases have been added to the firefighting foam lawsuit, bringing the number to over 3,300 cases.
Keeping track of the firefighting foam lawsuit updates can help you understand what to expect from your case. While each case is unique in facts, you can use set precedence to solidify your AFFF lawsuit.
November 2022
The MDL lawsuit has grown, bringing the total number of cases to over 3,200. Furthermore, California filed a water contamination suit against DuPont, 3M, and other manufacturers of AFF products used over the last few decades, claiming that the state’s drinking water supply is toxic and unsafe for consumption.
October 2022
The MDL judge appointed a mediator, Layn Phillips, a retired judge, to facilitate firefighting foam lawsuit settlement negotiations. The settlement negotiations will happen before the first bellwether test trial in 2023.
Attorney General Josh Stein from North Carolina announced the addition of new lawsuits to the firefighting foam class action lawsuit.
In addition, the first bellwether test trial case was picked. The MDL judge ruled that the first test trial case would be City of Stuart v. 3M Company, et al., (2:18-cv-3487). This isn’t a personal injury case but a municipal water contamination case.
The City of Stuart alleged that AFFF used during firefighters’ training exercises contaminated its water supply. It is suing 3M and other manufacturers for failing to issue a proper warning.
The city is seeking damages for the cost of cleaning the toxic chemicals out of its water system. The trial is set to start on June 5, 2023. In addition, dispositive pre-trial motions are due by February 3, 2023.
September 2022
In a huge win, the MDL judge rejected the 3M government contractor’s defense. The party had initially filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that it should be immune from liability for injuries sustained from the AFFF products.
The judge held that the defense was inapplicable since there is evidence that 3M knew about some of the possible hazards of the AFFF products but didn’t warn the government about them.
In addition, the first AFFF lawsuit trial date was set. The judge in the class action MDL announced that the first bellwether case would be picked in December 2022, with the test trial beginning in April 2023. It is worth noting that bellwether cases tend to lead to settlement negotiations, especially if trials yield a significant verdict for a plaintiff.
August 2022
New cases were transferred to the AFFF class action lawsuit. Most of these new cases were brought by claimants living on or near military bases with high firefighting foam usage.
June 2022
Over 90 new cases were added to the MDL, bringing the total number to over 2,500. A section of the new AFFF lawsuits were individual claimants alleging cancer from AFFF exposure. The other section was cases filed by municipal governments alleging local water supply contamination.
May 2022
A new study published on May 3, 2022, by researchers from the Maine Medical Center Research discovered that PFAS found in AFFF poses a previously unknown health risk. According to the study, PFAS exposure can cause reduced bone mineral density in adolescent boys, possibly leading to bone fractures and several other orthopedic problems. This study is further evidence of the dangers of firefighting foam, making it elemental to the ongoing lawsuit.
March 2022
On March 3, the Plaintiff’s Scientific Committee submitted a letter to the judge in the MDL attaching a couple of documents they identified as “significant new scientific” evidence of the link between cancer and chemicals in the AFFF. The first document was a notice from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) which identified the chemical in the product as a known carcinogen.
The other was a draft EPA finding identifying PFOA as a “possible” human carcinogen. Despite the defense council submitting their letter on March 15 disputing these two documents’ significance, the connection between cancer and PFOA gained-and is still gaining–momentum.
February 2022
Defense attorneys filed a motion for partial summary judgement in the lawsuit based on a government contractor immunity argument.
January 2022
There are over 2,000 plaintiffs in the MDL claims lawsuit housing all federal court cases in South Carolina.
April 2020
A status conference was held via telephone allowing the defendants and plaintiffs to provide discovery updates, including deposition scheduling and document production.
February 2020
A status conference was held in court where updates on discovery status were provided by defendants, plaintiffs and the United States. Most of the conference was spent dealing with disputes between the government and defendants regarding search terms as well as the obligation of the government to look for relevant historical documents.
October 2019
The plaintiffs and defense took part in a Science Day before the judge. Both sides presented experts in order to respond to questions by the court about several issues
August 2019
An order was issued by the court mandating that all plaintiffs complete plaintiff fact sheets, including public and private water districts as well as counties and cities. New cases have 98 days from the filing date to provide a plaintiff fact sheet. Defendants, though, only need to provide defense fact sheets for sites identified in a list of sites contaminated by AFFF.
January 2019
The plaintiffs and defense stood before Judge Gergel for a status conference. Discovery-related updates were provided, including deposition scheduling and document production, as well as a deficiency process regarding plaintiff fact sheets which had been recently served.
December 2018
A judge ordered all AFFF cases to be consolidated into an MDL which would be overseen by Judge Richard Gergel in the District of South Carolina.
The cases are filed against manufacturers of AFFF containing PFAS. The manufacturers, manufactured, designed, sold and marketed AFFF to chemical plants, airports, fire training centers and fire departments knowing the AFFF would end up in the environment, where it would contaminate drinking water around the country. The lawsuits typically claim plaintiffs were exposed to PFAS and now face a higher risk of health effects like cancer, immune system effects, liver effects, thyroid hormone changes and high cholesterol.
Plaintiffs in the cases include individuals, state attorneys general, public water districts, private water districts, counties and cities.
November 2018
Oral arguments were presented regarding the AFFF manufacturers’ request to form an MDL.
October 2018
Multiple AFFF manufacturers asked a judge to consolidate AFFF cases into a multidistrict litigation (MDL). The cases included personal injury cases, class actions and individual lawsuits filed by water districts and municipalities for the costs of treating well heads.
