PFAS Liability Litigation and Complex Coverage Issues: Strategies for Insurers, Policyholders, and Their Attorneys
Course Details
- smart_display Format
Live Online with Live Q&A
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Insurance
- event Date
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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This CLE webinar will help prepare insurers, policyholders, and their attorneys for the flood of major liability challenges and complex coverage issues arising out of alleged exposure to and contamination from the group of chemicals commonly referred to as PFAS. This comprehensive presentation will cover the background of PFAS and a major product containing PFAS known as Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), the drastic increase in regulations of PFAS and AFFF, new and increasing liability risks, and emerging PFAS-related claims and lawsuits. The webinar will also focus on various insurance-related issues and coverage defenses specific to PFAS and AFFF.
Mr. Argetsinger focuses his practice on insurance recovery litigation. He has represented corporate policyholders in a broad range of insurance coverage disputes, including claims regarding coverage for cyber liability, directors’ and officers’ liability, employment practices liability, environmental contamination, antitrust litigation, flood and hurricane damage, intellectual property liability, false advertising, lead-based paint, asbestos, the False Claims Act and overseas tort liabilities.
Ms. Dyschkant represents policyholders in complex insurance coverage disputes and civil litigation in federal and state courts involving a wide variety of underlying claims and losses, including environmental liabilities, mass tort claims, cyber claims, government investigations, shareholder claims, errors or omissions liabilities, breach of privacy claims, first party property damage/business interruption, and event cancellation losses. She is knowledgeable about domestic and foreign insurance policies including: commercial liability; malpractice liability; errors and omissions liability; directors and officers liability; cyber and privacy risk; owners', landlords', and tenants' liability; aviation policies; first party property policies; and event cancellation policies. Ms. Dyschkant is an experienced coverage litigator with oral advocacy experience in high stakes matters. She is a zealous and committed advocate for her clients and assesses the unique needs of each matter in order to develop a goal-oriented strategy.
Called "forever chemicals," PFAS have been used for decades and can literally be found everywhere and in everything. Exposure is commonplace in everything from drinking water to the workplace. Once grounded primarily on environmental claims, liability arising out of PFAS now includes mass torts, nuisance, personal injury, and other new kinds of claims, giving rise to billions in liabilities.
PFAS manufacturers and others who used PFAS in making their products (which would include manufacturers of AFFF) face staggering liabilities, even if production stopped decades ago. But liability is also sought to be imposed against sellers or producers of any product that contains PFAS, even inadvertently. Every new federal, state, and local regulation imposes more stringent requirements about the permissible amounts of PFAS to which people may be exposed. Compliance and safe harbors may become illusory.
Potential coverage issues include whether and when exposure to PFAS and/or AFFF results in any bodily injury; did the insured know, in light of then-available research, that exposure to PFAS might result in any alleged bodily injury or property damage; how many occurrences exist where claims are based on multiple and different exposures over time, in different locations, and the manner of exposure is different; and the applicability of any exclusions, especially different forms of the pollution exclusion.
Listen as this premier panel of coverage attorneys with substantial experience and expertise on PFAS-related liability and coverage issues offers guidance about the major liability challenges and complex coverage issues arising from PFAS exposure.
I. PFAS overview
A. What are PFAS?
B. How and where were PFAS and AFFF used?
C. Health concerns/bodily injury--exposure to PFAS and AFFF
D. Environmental concerns/contamination of soil and groundwater
II. Regulations and laws
A. Federal and state regulations
B. Liability implications arising out of federal and state regulations
III. PFAS and AFFF liability litigation
A. The different categories of PFAS and AFFF lawsuits giving rise to different forms of liability
B. New types of PFAS lawsuits
IV. Insurance coverage considerations
A. To what extent did the insured know or expect there would be any alleged bodily injury or property damage, including any knowledge before the policy incepted and thus is not covered?
B. Issue of whether exposure to PFAS/AFFF in fact results in bodily injury. If so, when did such bodily injury in fact occur?
C. Is there one or more than one occurrence?
D. Issue of product pollution liability and the applicability of any pollution exclusion
E. Pending insurance coverage litigations
F. PFAS and AFFF coverage rulings to date
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What kinds of insurance policies are potentially implicated in PFAS/AFFF coverage?
- Is coverage available through insurance policies issued to vendors or other contractual counterparties through "additional insured" provisions?
- Is PFAS a product or a pollutant, and how does that affect coverage?
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