BarbriSFCourseDetails

Course Details

This CLE webinar will discuss managing the risk of PFAS litigation and navigating the injuries, costs, and claims being asserted by individuals, secondary users, landowners, and others. The panel will analyze the key difficulties plaintiffs face in proving standing and causation in PFAS lawsuits against multiple defendants and other potential defenses.

Faculty

Description

All businesses in the chain of commerce now face exposure to PFAS litigation and insurance coverage is uncertain. Well beyond environmental claims, PFAS liability is alleged for personal injury, mass torts, consumer fraud, nuisance, false labeling, and more. Products that have been targeted include food-contact materials, food, textiles, and cosmetics. New duties of inquiry and response are constantly being promoted. The risks cannot be ignored.

Managing this risk requires monitoring litigation and regulatory developments at the state and federal levels to know what issues have been litigated, what claims and defenses are succeeding or failing, and what experts and testing are being offered, accepted, or rejected.

Plaintiffs' most daunting tasks include proving that a specific defendant's conduct caused the alleged injuries and jurisdiction over the named defendants. In some cases defendants have asserted novel defenses, such as the primary purpose doctrine and the government contractor defense.

Listen as this expert panel of PFAS litigators analyzes the notable litigation--decided and ongoing--about PFAS liability from the defense perspective.

Outline

  1. Introduction to PFAS
  2. Standing and causation: Hardwick v. 3M
  3. Consumer products litigation and state law
  4. Insurance issues

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What kind of testing are plaintiffs relying on?
  • What is the impact of In Re: E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co. C-8 Pers. Inj. Litig., (Hardwick v. 3M Co.), 87 F.4th 315 (6th Cir. 2023)?
  • What are the issues related to insurance coverage?