2BInformed: The Future of Fluoride in Drinking Water, the New TSCA Fees Rule, and the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 5
DynCorp's 'Strategic' Defense In Drug Crop Spraying Suit
We previously blogged about a decision in the In re Deepwater Horizon BELO litigation – Ruffin v. BP Exploration & Production, Inc. – in which the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendants in an alleged chemical...more
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)—a branch of the World Health Organization mandated to investigate potential causes of cancer—conducts its own hazard evaluations of suspected carcinogens and publishes...more
On June 11, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") announced a proposed rule to repeal key amendments to the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards ("MATS") for coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam...more
Plaintiffs in toxic tort cases must prove both general and specific causation, generally through the testimony of experts. Experts must establish that a specific chemical exposure can (and did) cause the specific injury at...more
Last month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced its new classification for “automotive gasoline and some oxygenated gasoline additives.” In a result that follows IARC’s previous pattern and...more
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) announced on February 11, 2025, that community and environmental groups submitted a petition under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to the U.S. Environmental...more
Workers at asbestos job sites in the state of Texas may be at risk of developing mesothelioma, asbestos lung cancer, or other diseases as a result of asbestos exposure....more
Two thousand twenty-three was no exception to the trend of recent years in the ever-increasing issuance of private enforcer-led Proposition 65 60-Day Notices of Violation (“Notices”) to businesses allegedly selling consumer,...more
The Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") has announced a new proposed rule that would strengthen the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants ("NESHAP") for Coal- and Oil- Fired Electric Utility Steam...more
On October 5, 2021, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois denied the plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification in Morr v. Plains All American Pipeline, LLC 2021 WL 4478660 (S.D. Illinois,...more
Bayer, the German parent company of Monsanto, will pay more than $10 billion to resolve “tens of thousands of claims in the United States that its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.” The settlement covers an estimated...more
Welcome to the first 2019 issue of Product Lines – our quarterly e-newsletter that focuses on toxic torts and products liability issues. For this edition, we are reporting on several important and timely legal issues. As...more
Late last week, a California jury found Monsanto liable in the first of a series of cases accusing the Roundup weedkiller maker of causing plaintiff Dewayne Johnson’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, awarding him an incredible $289...more
LyondellBasell Looking to Control Braskem; Could Help WV Cracker - "A deal could breathe life into the ethane cracker Braskem proposed for a site near Parkersburg, W.Va., roughly five years ago." Why this is important:...more
In 2014, the jury awarded $2.9 million to plaintiff landowners in Lisa Parr et.al. v. Aruba Petroleum, Inc., a case involving alleged hydrocarbon exposure due to hydraulic fracturing operations. Earlier this week, the Dallas...more
On Thursday, a federal jury in Pennsylvania ordered Cabot Oil & Gas to pay more than $4.2 million in damages to two Pennsylvania families who sued in 2009 alleging that the Texas-based company’s drilling operations...more
The judge in a petroleum exposure case will allow a jury to decide whether a gas station operator and its environmental consultant recklessly failed to inform a plumber of the risks of working in an excavated pit with a...more
You might recall previous entries discussing Parr v. Aruba – a suit for personal injuries from oilfield pollution (and a $2.9MM verdict for the plaintiffs). Not all similar suits have the same result....more
California's Proposition 65 is notorious for its duty-to-warn requirement, which states that a business must give a clear and reasonable warning prior to exposing people to certain levels of any listed chemical. The warning...more
Legal challenges filed almost immediately after President Obama announced the Clean Power Rule may be premature. That is what attorneys for EPA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently in...more
The Pierce Atwood Environmental and Land Use Practice Group is pleased to provide the 2015 Summary of Key Maine Environmental Legislation enacted or carried over in the First Regular Session of Maine's 127th Legislature...more
In Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. American Nuclear Insurers, a divided Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, deciding an issue of first impression under Pennsylvania law, recently held that when an insurer defends its insured subject to a...more
A recently released study from scientists at the University of Pennsylvania suggests a link between hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for gas and oil and cardiac and neurological illnesses. Whether the report triggers a rash...more
You might recall previous entries discussing the $2.9 million Dallas County verdict and judgment in Parr v. Aruba. Not all similar suits have the same result. Michael and Myra Cerny sued Marathon Oil Corp. and Plains...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in Bell v. Cheswick could pave the way for more state common law air pollution tort suits and greater exposure for emitters. A new wave of state common law air pollution...more