Earlier this month, chemical maker DuPont agreed to a $27 million settlement to resolve the Hoosick Falls class action, which involved allegations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) contamination of the upstate New York village’s water supply.
In February 2016, class action, Baker, et al. v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., et al, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York regarding a Teflon fabric coating facility in Hoosick Falls. The class, which involves hundreds of plaintiffs, alleged that air and wastewater emissions from the Teflon facility dating back to the 1960s resulted in PFOA contamination of the municipal water supply, private wells, and the aquifer beneath Hoosick Falls. The action sought damages for property devaluation, remediation, nuisance, and to establish programs for medical, property, and water-source monitoring.
DuPont, the manufacturer of the PFOA-containing Teflon dispersions that were used at the Teflon facility, was added as a defendant in 2018 for E.I. DuPont de Nemours, (which operated DuPont’s performance chemicals business until it was spun out in 2015). DuPont is the last remaining defendant in the action.
Under terms of the $27 million settlement, DuPont will also provide an additional $6 million in funding for an existing 10-year medical monitoring program. Eligible community members can get evaluated annually, under the program, for 10 years and get early screening for diseases purportedly associated with forever chemicals.
In November 2015, the EPA recommended that the people of Hoosick Falls not drink their local water based on the presence of PFOA above 400 ppt in the public drinking supply. At the time the action was filed, certain residents of Hoosick Falls had levels of PFOA in their blood that were 30 times higher than average. In March 2016, just a month after the class action suit was filed, the NYS Department of Health announced that, “repeated testing of the . . . municipal water system show[ed] non-detection for PFOA and is now safe for users . . . “
In September 2016, however, the EPA recommended that the Teflon facility in Hoosick Falls be added to the Superfund National Priorities List.
In March of this year, new drinking water lines for Hoosick Falls were completed under the direction of parties associated with the Teflon facility and overseen by both the NYS departments of Health and Environmental Conservation. The project involved approximately 6,800 linear feet of raw water transmission line that was constructed between a newly developed wellfield and the Hoosick Falls water treatment plant.
The DuPont settlement, which came on the eve of trial, must still be approved by a federal judge. Once the settlement is preliminarily approved, class members will have the opportunity to file claims to receive settlement benefits or opt out of the settlement. Thereafter, the court will hold a fairness hearing, and, if satisfied that the settlement is in the best interest of the classes, will issue an order of final approval, ending an almost decade-long legal battle.
