CHARLESTON, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge is approving a $1.185 billion settlement with DuPont over chemicals known as PFAS, paving the way for lawyers to take about $935 million in fees from it and a related agreement with 3M.
South Carolina federal judge Richard Gergel on Feb. 8 gave final approval of the class action settlement with DuPont, from which lawyers are seeking 8%. Firms leading the litigation are Douglas and London of New York; Napoli Shkolnik of Puerto Rico; Baron & Budd of Dallas; Fegan Scott of Chicago; and Motley Rice of South Carolina.
Gergel did not give final approval of the fees request, which amounts to $94.8 million.
"Though the Court will address an award of attorneys' fees at a later date, it bears noting that no party objected to Class Counsel's request for attorneys fees and that the settlement agreement itself does not provide a set amount or even a range of attorneys fees, placing the matter entirely into the Court's hands for determination," Gergel wrote.
PFAS are a group dubbed "forever chemicals" because they persist in groundwater and human tissue for years. They are found in firefighting foam and consumer products.
The federal government is attempting to set a maximum contaminant level for PFAS, even as groups call the move premature. Much of the research regarding their effect on the human body is disputed.
Class members are local water districts that will implement PFAS remediation measures. It is estimated that DuPont is responsible for only 3% to 7% of the total PFAS liabilities.
Plaintiff lawyers claim to have spent more than 430,000 hours pursuing the cases, which are consolidated in a multidistrict litigation proceeding in South Carolina federal court.
If Gergel finds the 8% fee request reasonable, it would be an indication that the same figure would be approved in the $10.5 billion settlement with 3M. That would pay out $840 million in fees.
"This colossal achievement was the result of a sustained and concerted effort directed against all Defendants, whose liability is undeniably intertwined and interrelated," the Dec. 18 motion for fees in the 3M case says.