A coalition of law firms filed a sweeping new class action lawsuit Wednesday in the District of South Carolina against 17 PFAS manufacturers, seeking $8 billion in damages for medical monitoring, remediation costs, and personal injury claims stemming from contaminated drinking water supplies affecting an estimated 26 million Americans.
The defendants include 3M, DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, Honeywell, and 12 other companies that manufactured or sold PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — used for decades in products ranging from non-stick cookware to firefighting foam to food packaging.
What PFAS Are
PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally in the environment or in the human body. They accumulate in blood, organs, and tissue over time. The EPA in 2024 set maximum contaminant levels for six PFAS compounds in public drinking water — the first-ever federal PFAS drinking water standard — finding that no level of exposure is without risk.
Health effects linked to PFAS exposure include kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, immune system disruption, and developmental problems in children.
The Lawsuit’s Scope
Unlike prior PFAS settlements — including the $10.3 billion DuPont/3M settlement primarily covering municipal water systems — this lawsuit focuses on individual personal injury claims. Plaintiffs include residents of communities where PFAS levels in drinking water exceeded the EPA’s new standards, many of whom have developed cancers the lawsuit alleges are causally linked to the contamination.
The action consolidates 4,200 individual complaints. Attorneys estimate the class could eventually grow to 100,000 claimants as awareness of the litigation spreads.
Eligibility
If you lived in a community with confirmed PFAS contamination in its water supply for five or more years and have been diagnosed with kidney cancer, testicular cancer, or thyroid cancer, you may have a claim. The statute of limitations varies by state.