CONCORD, N.H. (Legal Newsline) – New Hampshire’s governor has vetoed legislation that would have given personal injury lawyers a new way to file lawsuits, even when their clients haven’t been injured.
Being able to make a claim for medical monitoring allows lawyers to sue companies with the hope of putting together a multimillion-dollar plan that can boost how much they make on their contingency fees. In New Hampshire, companies involved in the production of PFAS-containing products were nearly exposed to that strategy.
But Gov. Chris Sununu on Aug. 7 vetoed a bill that would have allowed medical monitoring claims, writing that it “would subject businesses to increased liability by creating a pathway for almost anyone exposed to hazardous or toxic substances to prove a claim for medical monitoring damages, regardless of the level, risk or consequences of exposure.”
PFAS are a group of chemicals that were used in firefighting foam, non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing, among other products. The State has chosen to impose its own regulations on them while filing lawsuits against companies to try to recover cleanup costs.
A medical monitoring program would have provided health care coverage for individuals exposed to PFAS. Lawyers wouldn’t have had to allege their clients were suffering any health effects from exposure.
“By not requiring proof of injury or symptoms and excluding plaintiffs’ past or present health status from being considered, this bill would open the floodgates to new, less severe claims which would divert resources from those who truly need them.”
New Hampshire has been one of the most active states in pursuing PFAS litigation against companies like DuPont and 3M. It hired the firm Kelley Drye on a contingency fee of 20% for its lawsuits.
Kelley Drye is working with Florida firm Levin Papantonio; Kennedy & Madonna of New York; Douglas & London of New York; Taft Stettinius of Ohio; and SL Environmental Law Group of San Francisco.
Lawmakers imposed a maximum contaminant level of 11-18 parts per trillion of PFAS (depending on the specific PFAS chemical). The current federal advisory level is 70 ppt, but states have significantly undercut that while they wait on an official standard from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Research conducted through a medical monitoring program funded by DuPont as a result of West Virginia lawsuits showed a likely link to six diseases, including kidney and testicular cancer. But the science is far from settled, many are arguing as Congress mulls a toxicity limit.
Lawsuits allege damages for cleanup costs, and one class action seeks to represent everyone in the country with a PFAS level in their body (a high percentage of Americans) with claims of assault.
“My general feeling is this whole PFAS scare is way overblown,” Steve Milloy, a biostatistician who served on President Trump’s transition team for the EPA and has made a career of resisting what he feels is “junk science," previously told Legal Newsline.
“It’s all basically running on the notion that detection is toxicity and if you can find it someplace and find people who were exposed to it, that’s bad.”
New Hampshire’s lawsuit has been sent to a multidistrict litigation proceeding in South Carolina federal court.