Skip to content
York County sues makers of toxic PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in district court
York County is seeking to hold makers of forever chemicals liable in civil court.
The county filed a lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas against 24 companies May 31 seeking damages for the contamination and pollution of its natural resources.
“Defendants designed, manufactured, distributed, marketed, and promoted PFAS-based AFFF products and/or AFFF component products in a manner that created or contributed to the creation of a public nuisance that is harmful to health and obstructs the free use of the County’s water systems, waters, and public resources,” the complaint reads.
Acting Solicitor Deirdre Sullivan said Tuesday the county is attempting to get restitution for the damage caused to York County lands by forever chemicals.
MORE:York County joins class-action lawsuit over PFAS ‘forever chemicals’
MORE:Coroner’s office identifies man killed in Hellam Township crash
MORE:Spring Garden Township Police seek armed robber
The lawsuit against 24 companies as well as other defendants that may be identified during discovery regards toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances contained in aqueous film-forming foam, which are generally used by fire companies to fight fires.
“(The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s) surface water sampling has shown that a variety of County waterbodies, including the Codorus, Muddy, West Conewago, and Yellow Breeches Creeks, evidence contamination with perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (“PFOS”) and perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and other PFAS compounds,” the lawsuit reads. “A number of public water systems in the County, including those for Shrewsbury Borough, Dover Township, and New Freedom Borough, have likewise experienced PFAS contamination at significant levels.”
The lawsuit is the next step in the process that York County began when they contracted with law firm Grant & Eisenhoffer earlier this year. The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved filing the lawsuit at its Wednesday meeting; Sullivan said the lawsuit was filed May 31 because of the statute of limitations on certain claims under state law.
In the lawsuit, York County alleges 3M Co., one of the companies sued, had identified that PFOS and PFOA were detectable in humans and that it was more toxic than anticipated in the 1970s. DuPont also recognized this in the 1970s, yet continued to sell these chemicals in AFFFs, including to York County. DuPont and several companies spun off from it are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit includes several AFFF manufacturers including 3M Co., Buckeye Fire Equipment Co. Inc., Raytheon Technologies Corp., Kidde PLC Inc., Chemguard Inc. and National Foam Inc. Three of the companies sued, Arkema Inc., Tyco Fire Products Inc. and AGC Chemicals Americas Inc. and , are based in Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit identifies six causes for the filing, alleging a public nuisance was created by the polluting, defective design as the chemicals were unsafe, failure to warn the county and other municipalities, trespass due to the chemicals’ harm, negligence and a violation of the Hazardous Site Cleanup Act.
Please consider subscribing to support local journalism.
The county is also alleging DuPont, referred to in the lawsuit as Historical DuPont, acted fraudulently in spinning off several companies to transfer funds away from creditors to companies like New DuPont, the Chemours Co., Corteva and New Dow. That limited the amount of assets available to cover judgments against DuPont for the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of PFAS chemicals.
MORE:First of two sentences in million-dollar embezzlement case handed down
MORE:York JCC postpones Pride event after canceling drag story time
MORE:Woman shot during attempted carjacking that shut down I-83 in York County: state police
The county is seeking damages in excess of $50,000 as well as other punitive and/or exemplary damages, past, present or future costs to investigate, monitor and analyze the environmental damage, declaratory judgment and injunctive relief requiring the defendants to pay for or complete actions to fix the environmental damage, relief and remedies available under the HSCA as well as voiding the transfer of funds and preventing Historical DuPont from transferring funds to other companies to avoid creditors.
DuPont de Nemours Inc., The Chemours Co. and Corteva Inc. recently established a $1.18 billion fund to compensate water providers over PFAS. While York County’s lawsuit is separate from the lawsuits that sparked that fund, Sullivan said the county is suing those companies over effectively the same issues and that the lawsuit could be consolidated with other ones.
“It is possible that the County’s case could ultimately be resolved jointly with the other filed cases at some point in the future,” Sullivan said via email Tuesday. “Similarly to the opioid litigation, the manufacturers generally prefer to settle with as many of the plaintiffs as possible, from a pot of funds made available to settle all of the outstanding similar claims. Generally filing parties are entitled to receive a greater share of the funds than non-filing parties who have similar claims.”
— Reach Matt Enright via email at [email protected] or via Twitter at @Matthew_Enright.
