DO YOU HAVE PFAS IN YOUR WATER SYSTEM?

Whether your water system needs to take immediate action, is preparing for upcoming regulation in the state, or wants to understand the impact of impending federal regulation, you may be wondering:

  • What are current federal and state PFAS regulations, and where are they heading?
  • What should a water system do once it finds water contamination?
  • What should a water system do if the contamination source is unknown?
  • What kind of treatment systems are effective at removing PFAS?
  • What is the best way to communicate with the community about water contamination?
  • How much does chemical testing cost?
  • How much does it cost to purchase water from other jurisdictions?
  • How much does it cost to build and maintain plants to treat the water?
  • How can water systems recover costs for PFAS treatment without passing that expense onto its ratepayers?
  • Can water systems sue at any time to recover treatment costs, or are there statutes of limitation that need to be considered?

HOW WE CAN HELP

Here are some of the many ways we help our clients, whether they are still weighing their options and looking for advice on how to proceed, or have decided that a lawsuit is the best course of action:

 

  • Keep them up to date on where regulation is heading and how it may impact their water system
  • Investigate the matter to determine whether there are grounds for a lawsuit
  • Assist clients who need to identify potential sources of PFAS contamination
  • Advise about state-of-the-art responses to water contamination, such as treatment options
  • Help develop an effective PFAS communication strategy, whether that is to their water district, city board leadership, ratepayers, or the community in general
  • Provide guidance and advice on potential litigation

 

If a water system decides to pursue litigation to cover the costs related to water treatment, we will represent it against the chemical companies responsible for the contamination.

 

 

Since 2003 SL Environmental Law Group has been solely focused on water contamination litigation for various contaminants and has helped 150+ clients, resulting in over $1.2 billion recovered in settlements and trials.

 

 

OUR EXPERTISE AT YOUR SERVICE

After successfully helping water systems with contaminants such as MTBE, 1,2,3-TCP, p-CBSA, PCE, PCBs, we turned our focus to PFAS. Given the magnitude of the issue, the extensive resources of the manufacturers responsible for this contamination, and the extent to which they will go to avoid accountability, we assembled the most experienced group of PFAS and water contamination litigators to fight for water providers around the country.

 

We created a team composed of 5 law firms, each with their own areas of expertise, to offer:

 

  • The most PFAS litigation experience: our team has the only lawyers in the country who have tried multiple PFOA cases successfully against 3M and Dupont, the primary defendants in PFAS lawsuits. Our team’s extensive PFAS experience has led to a number of our attorneys holding leadership positions in the current PFAS AFFF multidistrict litigation (MDL).
  • Exclusive access to evidence: our team is the only one with access to an extensive library of documents from 3M and DuPont demonstrating they knew PFAS was harmful and purposefully provided false information to the public about its dangers. These documents cannot be replicated by anyone else, giving us an unmatched advantage when preparing for and during lawsuits.
  • Extensive water litigation experience: we have 20+ years exclusively representing water suppliers in contamination cases. The polluters we aim to hold accountable know we are experts in our field, and we are not afraid of going to trial.
  • Significant litigation expertise against large corporations, like the manufacturers we aim to hold accountable: we understand how they think and approach lawsuits, and they know we will not give in.
  • The combined expertise and resources of 5 firms rather than just one: those responsible for the contamination are some of the largest chemical companies in the country, and we have the resources and the commitment to see this through and get water systems the best possible outcome.

 

 

We are collectively already representing over 100 clients, including states, municipalities, water suppliers, and airports in a PFAS multidistrict litigation (MDL).

 

 

WHAT WORKING WITH OUR TEAM MEANS FOR WATER SYSTEMS

  • Less work on their part: thanks to our water litigation experience, PFAS expertise, and exclusive access to evidence we lessen the burden on water systems both preparing for and during the lawsuit.
  • No upfront costs or retainer: we provide our services on a contingency fee basis. This allows water systems to retain us without any upfront or ongoing fees or litigation costs.
  • Recovering costs while protecting the community: we go after the big corporations that manufactured the contaminants, protecting both ratepayers and local communities.
  • Local presence: our firms have over 18 offices across 10 states. We are close to the water systems and better equipped to understand their specific challenges.

 

 

 

DO YOU HAVE PFAS IN YOUR WATER SYSTEM?

CONTACT US TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION

 

 

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Our water expertise at your disposal

 

 

 

 

OUR PFAS LEGAL TEAM
Learn more about each firm and the expertise they bring:


SL Environmental Law Group
SL Environmental focuses exclusively on water contamination litigation and has over 18 years of experience working with public and private water utilities, city and state governments. To date SL Environmental has represented over 150 clients in contamination cases that involve PFAS, 1,2,3-TCP, Perchlorate and MTBE, resulting in over $1.2 billion recovered in settlements and trials.


TAFT
Robert Bilott from Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP filed the first case in the country that resulted in the discovery and public disclosure of PFOA in drinking water supplies for approximately 70,000 people in West Virginia and Ohio attributable to DuPont. Rob helped negotiate and obtain a class settlement in 2004 that secured benefits for the class valued in excess of $300 million, including water filtration systems for impacted private and public water supplies in West Virginia and Ohio, blood testing of 69,000 people, and eventual medical monitoring and establishment of general causation findings for personal injury claims.


Kennedy & Madonna
Kennedy & Madonna’s practice recovered $96 million for the environmental contamination of a community in Pensacola, Florida, $25 million for a public water supplier in Michigan, and received a jury verdict of $396 million against DuPont for poisoning a West Virginia community.


Levin Papantonio Rafferty
The Levin Papantonio firm is recognized as one of the top litigation firms in the country. Its team of over thirty attorneys have been litigating personal injury and products liability cases since its inception in 1955. Members of the firm have served on Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees and/or Plaintiffs’ Executive Committees in over twenty MDLs across the nation. The firm focuses on all aspects of trial preparation for our PFAS cases including working up expert reports, organizing discovery, taking depositions, organizing trial exhibits and drafting and defending motions in limine and Daubert motions.


Douglas & London
Douglas & London has over two decades of litigation experience. In prosecuting cases, the firm’s co-founding partners have served in leadership roles as well as trial counsel in some of the largest national multidistrict litigations in the country. In the C-8 MDL, Gary Douglas served as co-lead trial counsel in the first two trial cases and lead counsel in the third case, securing a total combined award of more than $20 million for the three plaintiffs. Michael London served as the lead negotiator for settlement in the C-8 litigation, successfully negotiating a $670.7 million settlement with DuPont.