Legal Resources
PFAS Issues In California Compounded By Colorado’s PFAS Proliferation
Every year, nearly 40% of California’s water used for drinking, agriculture, and irrigation comes from groundwater sources located in Northern California. During droughts, as much as 60% of water in California is sourced from groundwater. In addition, large quantities...
Business Interruption MDL Declined By Federal Court…For Now
In an order issued on August 12th, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation declined the requests from two groups of policyholders to consolidate business interruption insurance coverage disputes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. In declining to consolidate,...
PFAS Testing In Firefighting Foam MDL Needed, State AG Says
In multidistrict litigation in South Carolina surrounding the alleged effects of PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) used in firefighting, the number of plaintiffs continues to grow and the short-term and long-term relief requested continues to evolve....
PFAS Water Cleanup…Have You Bought Yourself a Multi-Million Dollar Superfund Issue?
The last two years have seen an incredible uptick in activity with respect to PFAS regulations, and media coverage of PFAS continues to fuel the fires from the public, non-government organizations and environmental groups for additional action to be taken. The EPA...
Issues Moving Forward with Complex Jury Trials During the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant issues for court systems across the country wishing to move forward with civil jury trials, namely the control of jurors. In this article, we seek to address some of the issues that courts are facing in trying to move...
Talc Ruling From NJ Appeals Court: Plaintiffs’ Experts Should Be Allowed To Testify
Talc litigation is back in the news given the recent Appellate Court decision in New Jersey. The consolidated cases Brandi Carl and Joel Carl, and Diana Balderrama and Golbert Balderrama (Docket Nos.: A-0387-16T1, and A-0978-16T1, respectively), involve plaintiffs...
Predicting Climate Events With Technology – Advice For Insurers
One of the greatest challenges for insuring against climate risk is the unknown severity of that risk. Insurers are grappling with the difficult task of tailoring historic risk models to insure against climate events that are increasing in frequency and severity and...
Clearing the Air On Talc – How Sound Science Must Guide Jurors In the Talc Litigation
More and more, especially in light of the onslaught of television ads regarding lawsuits and large verdicts, the word “talc” is a term less associated with baby powder and more with deadly toxic dust. In many ways, the media coverage of talc is similar to the decades...
PFAS Food Packaging Agreement Reached Between FDA and Manufacturers
In a press release published on July 31, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that three manufacturers of products containing the specific per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) 6:2 fluorotelomer alcohol (6:2 FTOH) have agreed to voluntarily...
PFAS In Food Packaging To Be Banned In New York
On July 23, 2020, New York took a major step to become the third state in the country to ban the use of PFAS in food packaging. While not yet signed into law by Governor Cuomo, the New York State Legislature passed legislation (S.8817 and A.4739-C) that bans per- or...
New Hampshire Adopts Aggressive PFAS Drinking Water Bill
On July 23, 2020, Governor Sununu of New Hampshire signed into law a bill that sets maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for four types of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. The bill also sets aside $50 million in state funds for cleanup of sites...
EPA’s New Asbestos Determination May Upend Decades of Science and Impact Litigation
The word “asbestos” is a term colloquially known as a hazard. Below the surface, though, while the average person knows from television ads that they may be entitled to compensation if they are exposed to asbestos, they almost surely do not know that asbestos is a...