CHARLESTON, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - It's nearly $100 million for lawyers pushing PFAS lawsuits on behalf of public water systems, as a federal judge has approved their request for fees from settlements with BASF and Tyco.
South Carolina federal judge Richard Gergel had already given approval to the settlements for plaintiffs represented by lawyers from Douglas & London, Baron & Budd, Napoli Shkolnik and Motley Rice.
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 has 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.
Gergel is presiding over a multidistrict litigation proceeding designed for claims from water districts and personal injury plaintiffs. Consumer class actions have also sprouted up around the country, with varying levels of success so far.
BASF's settlement is valued at $316.5 million, while Tyco's is $750 million. Plaintiff lawyers asked for 8% from both, plus millions in costs.
Gergel gave them $60 million from the Tyco settlement and $25,320,000 from the BASF agreement. He tacked on more than $10 million in costs to be reimbursed.
Noting how large the settlements are, Gergel added, "the settlements provide timely relief to thousands of PWS facing PFAS contamination. The results obtained - including the allocation procedures in both settlement agreements - are finely tuned to the present and future needs of class members."
Plaintiff lawyers in the MDL claim to have spent more than 430,000 hours pursuing the cases. BASF said considering 3M manufactured 90% of the PFOA in the world, it would be nearly impossible to tell whether its PFOA products were contaminating water districts.
Water sampling was conducted ahead of bellwether trial dates, with plaintiff lawyers claiming "it became readily apparent to BASF that it faced significant risk should either of the cases proceed to trial."
DuPont is paying $1.185 to settle claims in the South Carolina MDL, while 3M is set to pay at least $10.5 billion. Lawyers will make around $1 billion in fees from those two settlements.
Defendants still face lawsuits by individuals and others over PFAS, which is found in products like nonstick pans and cosmetics.