3M, Corteva Inc, and DuPont were granted a big win by a U.S. appeals court on Monday November 27th, 2023. The appeals court rejected a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed roughly 11.8 million Ohio residents to participate in a massive class action. The court’s decision comes after finding lead plaintiff Kevin Hardwick’s claims to be too broad. They state that Harwick “rarely” called out actions of one single company, and alternately accused the companies as a whole of causing contamination. Circuit Judge Raymon Kethledge noted that there are thousands of companies that have manufactured PFAS, however only 10 were listed as defendants.
The dismissed lawsuit aimed to force the companies to fund studies that analyzed the health impacts PFAS. If granted it also aimed to establish a fund that would have monitored Ohio residents for health impacts from PFAS exposure.
This blog is intended to provide information to the general public and to practitioners about developments that may impact Oregon class actions.
