A team of attorneys has filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of residents in Bennington and Shaftsbury, Vermont, alleging that 3M Company, E.I. DuPont De Nemours, and Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation contaminated private drinking water wells with perfluorooctanoic acid — a toxic chemical linked to cancer and other serious diseases.

The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, listing eight local residents as class representatives and demanding a jury trial. The complaint runs nearly 70 pages and targets the manufacturers and users of PFOA, a member of the broader class of chemicals known as PFAS — or “forever chemicals” — that do not break down in the environment or the human body.

The Source of the Contamination

At the center of the lawsuit are two former manufacturing facilities operated by ChemFab, a company later acquired by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics. The plants were located on Northside Drive and Water Street in Bennington and operated from 1969 to 2002.

According to the complaint, Saint-Gobain used PFOA in its manufacturing process and released it into the atmosphere through its smokestacks. The chemical then settled into the ground, eventually migrating into the local groundwater aquifer and contaminating private drinking water wells across a wide area of Bennington and Shaftsbury.

“The science is very clear that Saint-Gobain’s use of the PFOA in their process, and then burning it off in their smokestacks, and then letting that out into the atmosphere is what caused the PFOA to settle into the ground and eventually get its way into the groundwater and the soil,” said lead plaintiff attorney David F. Silver of Barr, Sternberg, Moss, Silver & Munson, P.C., in Bennington.

Since 2023, approximately 25 wells in Shaftsbury and 100 wells in southern Bennington have tested positive for PFOA contamination. State-coordinated testing of additional wells remains ongoing.

This Is the Second Lawsuit — Here’s Why

This is not the first time Bennington residents have taken Saint-Gobain to court over PFOA contamination. A prior class action — Sullivan v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics — was filed in 2016 and settled successfully in 2022.

So why file again?

“The reason we’re doing a second suit is because over time it’s become clear that outside the original area of contamination that was the subject of the 2016 lawsuit, there was further contamination that increased over time,” Silver explained.

Well testing conducted in recent years has revealed contamination spreading into areas not covered by the original lawsuit — including southeastern Shaftsbury near the East Road area, and additional neighborhoods in Bennington including Rocky Lane, Middle Pownal Road, South Stream Road, Coleville Road, Niles Road, and Fuller Road.

The new lawsuit is designed to address those residents and property owners who were left out of the 2022 settlement.

Who Is Covered by the Lawsuit

The class action covers four distinct groups of plaintiffs:

  • Residents suffering property devaluation due to groundwater contamination
  • Residents suffering property devaluation due to soil contamination
  • Residents suffering nuisance from having a contaminated well
  • A medical monitoring class for residents who drank contaminated well water for at least six months and have PFOA levels in their blood at or above 2.00 micrograms per liter

Currently, some affected residents are using point-of-entry water treatment systems while others have been forced to rely on bottled water for drinking.

What the Lawsuit Is Asking For

The complaint seeks a declaration that the defendants acted with negligence, gross negligence, and willful disregard for the health, safety, and property of class members.

In terms of specific relief, plaintiffs are demanding:

  • Compensation of more than $5 million for injured parties
  • An injunction requiring defendants to connect all impacted properties to municipal water
  • Remediation of PFOA contamination in soil and groundwater
  • Establishment of a long-term, court-supervised medical monitoring program for affected residents
  • Punitive damages and attorney fees

3M and DuPont Also Named

The lawsuit targets not just Saint-Gobain but also 3M and DuPont — the manufacturers of PFOA itself. This mirrors a growing national litigation trend that holds chemical manufacturers responsible alongside the companies that used their products.

“It’s quite clear when you read the complaint that for decades and decades these corporations knew that PFOA was a toxic chemical that would be harmful to humans, and that they did not take the precautions, or that they didn’t tell anybody about it, and they just made billions and billions of dollars selling a product that they knew was going to hurt people and hurt the environment,” Silver said.

3M reached a landmark $10.3 billion settlement in 2023 to resolve PFAS contamination claims from public water systems across the United States. DuPont and its spinoff companies have paid billions more in separate settlements. Despite those payouts, private well contamination cases like the Vermont lawsuit continue to be filed as testing reveals contamination in communities previously unaware of the risk.

What Are PFOA and PFAS?

PFOA — perfluorooctanoic acid — is a member of the PFAS family of synthetic chemicals that have been used in manufacturing since the 1950s. They are found in non-stick cookware, firefighting foam, food packaging, and industrial processes.

PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally in the environment or the human body. They accumulate in blood, organs, and tissue over time. Long-term exposure has been linked to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, immune system disruption, high cholesterol, and developmental problems in children.

The EPA set the first-ever federal drinking water limits for six PFAS compounds in 2024, finding that no level of PFAS exposure is without health risk.

Could You Be Eligible?

If you live in Bennington or Shaftsbury, Vermont and have been drinking well water that tested positive for PFOA, you may be eligible to join this class action. Contact the law firms handling the case:

  • Barr, Sternberg, Moss, Silver & Munson, P.C. — Bennington, VT
  • Faraci Lange, LLP — Rochester, NY
  • Davis, Johnston & Ringger, PC — Asheville, NC

InjuryWatch News will continue tracking this case as it moves through federal court.