3M and Other Giants Accused of Concealing Risks of ‘Forever Chemicals,’ Thousands of Homeowners May Face Health Crisis, Compensation Could Exceed $10 Billion!

On Friday, a U.S. federal court accepted a class-action lawsuit against 3M Co (MMM.N), Corteva Corp (CTVA.N) and Chemours Corp (CC.N). The lawsuit alleges that the companies violated consumers' rights by failing to disclose the health risks of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in their carpets and related products nationwide. The case seeks to defend the legal rights of U.S. property owners who purchased and installed the carpet before 2020.

The lawsuit makes it clear that PFAS produced by the defendant companies are widely used in carpet products to achieve anti-fouling and waterproof functions. The plaintiffs seek financial liability to pay for the removal and replacement of the contaminated carpet, as well as punitive damages. Although the plaintiffs have not filed a claim for personal injury, they have accused the defendants of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a federal law aimed at combating organized crime and allowing civil actions for alleged conspiracy. In addition, the lawsuit makes numerous claims under state consumer protection laws and common law provisions for nuisance, failure to warn, and design defects.

3M said in its response that as the scientific and technical, social and regulatory expectations for PFAS, as well as the company's own expectations, have continued to evolve, its approach to managing PFAS has evolved accordingly. 3M will continue to resolve PFAS-related litigation through court defense or negotiation, as it believes appropriate. Corteva and Chemours, a spin-off of DuPont, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PFAS are a family of thousands of chemicals that are used in a wide range of consumer and commercial products, including firefighting foam, nonstick cooking pans and stain-resistant fabrics. These chemicals have been linked to cancer and other health problems and are known as "permanent chemicals" because of their difficulty breaking down in the body or the environment. The lawsuit states that DuPont knew PFAS were in its Teflon nonstick products as early as the 1950s, but did not disclose this information to the public and instead made a sustained effort to conceal the risks. The lawsuit also alleges that 3M secretly hired a toxicology professor for years to review articles submitted to academic journals and to prevent the publication of research on the dangers of PFAS.

The United States has recently stepped up regulation of PFAS, issuing new standards for drinking water contamination and requiring cleanup of certain PFAS contamination under the federal Superfund program. In recent years, the number of lawsuits filed against PFAS manufacturers and companies that use these chemicals to make products has reached thousands. Dupont, Corteva and Chemours agreed last year to pay a total of $1.19 billion to public water systems to settle claims of PFAS contamination, while 3M agreed to pay $10.3 billion. The case is Peterson and Others v. 3M and Others, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, No. 0:24-cv-03497. The plaintiffs are represented by Steve Berman of the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and others.