Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is soliciting proposals for currently unavoidable use (CUU) designations under the state’s statute regulating the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances...more
Key Takeaways -
What is happening? Maine has enacted an amendment to the state’s statute regulating the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in products....more
Two bills introduced in the Massachusetts legislature would ban nearly all products containing intentionally added PFAS sold or distributed in the Commonwealth by 2030, with some categories of products banned by 2026. The...more
Maine DEP Issues Second Concept Draft of Proposed PFAS Regulation; Schedules Stakeholder Meeting Oct. 27 Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection (Maine DEP) issued a revised “Second Concept Draft” of proposed...more
Maine DEP Requests Comments on Concept Draft of Proposed PFAS Regulations -
The Maine DEP has issued a “Concept Draft” of proposed regulations that details some of the notification requirements and sales prohibitions for...more
Key Takeaways -
• What is Happening? On July 15, 2021, Maine adopted a law that will ban the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in products. While the law takes a phased approach over the next few...more
On December 3, 2020, Science published a peer-reviewed scientific study linking 6PPD, a common rubber antioxidant chemical found in tire preservatives, to coho salmon mortality in the Pacific Northwest. The New York Times,...more
In the latest in a flurry of PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) suits, a New York court granted class certification to a group of New York residents who claim that they have been harmed by decades of exposure to the chemical near...more
In a recently filed action, the State of New York is suing six manufacturers and marketers of of perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (“PFOS”) containing firefighting foams under theories of...more
In an opinion highlighting some of the barriers to class certification in an environmental contamination case, a Kentucky federal court denied class status to plaintiffs alleging damages from exposure to hazardous substances...more
Expanding the scope of potential workplace-exposure liability, the New Jersey Supreme Court clarified that an employer may be liable for toxic exposures not just to the spouse of an employee, but potentially to people with...more
Illustrating the importance of expert testimony in establishing a factual basis for private nuisance claims and damages in tort actions, a Pennsylvania federal judge vacated a $4.24 million jury verdict and granted a new...more
In a blow to the efforts of municipal plaintiffs to pursue environmental damages through product liability theories, a Washington federal court granted Monsanto’s motion to dismiss Seattle’s design defect and failure to warn...more
Addressing the relatively uncommon “prospective nuisance” claim, an Illinois appeals court found a group of landowners pleaded sufficient facts to show that a new sand mining operation would result in a nuisance if...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) Division of Corporate Finance issued a new statement adding some uncertainty to company obligations and enforcement exposure under the SEC conflict minerals rule...more
A flurry of activity on conflict minerals in recent months has added new uncertainty to the long-simmering debate over the future of U.S. conflict minerals reporting requirements. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...more
Highlighting an area of unsettled law in North Carolina toxic tort litigation, a federal district court in the Eleventh Circuit held that the pre-2014 North Carolina statute of repose contained no exception for latent...more
In a victory for municipalities that recycle biosolids to farmland, Los Angeles’ sanitation district prevailed in its suit against a Kern County initiative banning land application of biosolids. See County Sanitation Dist....more
DC High Court Adopts Daubert Approach to Expert Testimony -
In a direct victory for mobile phone manufacturers and service providers, and with implications for any other case involving expert testimony in the District of...more
12/12/2016
/ Admissibility ,
Contamination ,
Daubert Standards ,
Drinking Water ,
Evidence ,
Expert Testimony ,
Manufacturers ,
Mobile Devices ,
Preemption ,
Take-Home Exposure ,
Toxic Exposure
In an immediate victory for mobile phone manufacturers and service providers, and with implications for any other case involving expert testimony in the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia’s highest court abandoned...more
California Appellate Court Upholds “Every Exposure” Theory -
Deferring to the role of a jury in resolving questions of competing scientific theories, a California appeals court upheld a trial court’s ruling allowing...more
In a case that may make it easier to prove causation in Maryland lead paint cases, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that neither direct evidence of the source of lead nor expert testimony was necessary when a trier of fact...more
In another development in the ongoing ammonium perfluorooctanoate (“C-8”) multidistrict litigation, a federal trial court in Ohio upheld an October 2015 jury verdict against E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (“DuPont”). ...more
Illustrating the limits on damages available to North Carolina landowners in toxic tort cases, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s order capping damages at the diminution in the value of the...more
In a decision highlighting a practical challenge in pursuing tort claims against some underground storage tank (“UST”) owners and operators, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that a trial court could nix a lawsuit stemming...more