The Skinner Accident and Injury Lawyers filed suit in federal court in Martinsburg against seven defendants including 3M Company and Dupont, for the damages and injury to the people who drank and used the water in the City of Martinsburg’s municipal water system. The water had been contaminated with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively known as “PFAS” and often referred to as “forever chemicals” and used at the Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base at the Martinsburg airport.
Exposure to PFAS is correlated with several harmful and serious health effects including but not limited to:
- Cancers, including:
- Breast Cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Leukemia
- Lymphoma
- Neuroendocrine tumors
- Prostate cancer
- Decreased fertility
- Pregnancy-induced hypertension and/or preeclampsia
- Liver damage
- Thyroid disease
- Problems with cholesterol levels
- Immune system problems
If you have been diagnosed with any of the above, please contact us to see if you may be eligible for compensation.
The lawsuit asserts that the following seven defendants deliberately concealed the dangers of PFAS, withheld scientific evidence, and intentionally, knowingly and recklessly sold, distributed, released, transported, supplied, arranged for disposal or treatment, and handled and used PFAS and PFAS-containing materials in West Virginia in a way that they knew would contaminate natural resources and expose Martinsburg residents to harm:
- 3M COMPANY (F/K/A Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.)
- TYCO FIRE PRODUCTS L.P.
- NATIONAL FOAM, INC.
- BUCKEYE FIRE EQUIPMENT CO.
- CHEMGUARD
- E. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO
- THE CHEMOURS CO., LLC.
The complaint contends the defendants knew or should have known that:
- PFAS persist in the environment and do not degrade.
- PFAS would accumulate and build up in animals and humans exposed to PFAS.
- PFAS are potential or confirmed carcinogens.
- Continued manufacture and use of PFAS would inevitably result in continued and increased levels of PFAS getting into the environment and into people’s bodies.
The lawsuit also contends that the defendants knew PFAS are toxic and pose substantial health and environmental risks but hid this. Specifically, the companies neglected to tell people what was in the products, suppressed the scientific evidence that the chemicals were hazardous, discharged the chemicals into the environment, and distributed the chemicals all over the world, including into West Virginia, knowing that PFAS would contaminate natural resources and threaten public health.
“Chemical companies have known for decades that PFAS compounds don’t break down, build up in the human body, and exposures can lead to illness.”
A copy of the PFAS lawsuit can be found here.
The Complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. As expected, it was then moved to the United States District Court of the District of South Carolina where it will be litigated in its initial stages with other similar suits in the multi-district litigation called IN RE: Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation.
