COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) – Lawyers will soon move ahead with plans to certify a class action lawsuit that fails to allege anyone has been made sick by chemicals known as PFAS.
Kevin Hardwick’s case against 3M and other defendants is notable in that almost everyone in the country might end up a member of it. He seeks to represent a class of people exposed to PFAS, not injured by it.
PFAS is a group of chemicals that were used in products like non-stick cookware and firefighting foam that are now the subject of debate as high up as Congress.
A research project set up by DuPont to settle Ohio and West Virginia contamination claims showed probable links to six diseases, including kidney and testicular cancers, but the epidemiology used has been called less than conclusive.
One critic calls the research “lousy” even as advocates rely on it to push regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a health advisory for water with 70 parts per trillion, but has not issued a formal maximum contaminant level.
States have, though, that are far below 70 ppt. Some of them have also hired private lawyers to sue 3M, DuPont and others.
A June 16 order in the Hardwick case told his lawyers to file their motion for class certification as soon as they want, and the defendants will have 90 days to respond. They had asked for 180, but will be allowed to motion for an extension when the time comes, Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers wrote.
Hardwick’s lawyers have asked the court for "the establishment of an independent panel of scientists" who would be "jointly selected by the parties" and funded by defendants. The panel would research alleged health effects of PFAS and report their findings, which would be "definitive and binding on all the parties," the original complaint said.
Hardwick is represented by lawyers at Taft Stettinius in Columbus, Ohio; Douglas and London in New York; and Levin Papantonio in Pensacola, Fla.