Lunsford’s lawsuit claims her drinking water has been contaminated by PFAS for years, leading to continuous exposure.
The lawsuit indicates she and thousands of other plaintiffs nationwide suffered such exposures because manufacturers of the chemicals and fire safety products failed to warn the public about the risks of PFAS in AFFF, which the manufacturers allegedly knew about for decades.
Instead of disclosing information about the risks or taking steps to clean up contaminated drinking water, the kidney cancer lawsuit indicates the companies placed a desire for profits and preserving their reputations over the health and safety of the public.
“For a substantial period of time, Plaintiff was exposed to Defendants’ AFFF and fluorochemical products by ingesting drinking water contaminated with Defendants’ AFFF and fluorochemical products. As a result, Plaintiff regularly and unknowingly ingested Defendants’ AFFF and fluorochemical products,” the lawsuit states. “Because of Plaintiff’s exposure to Defendants’ AFFF and fluorochemical products, Plaintiff was diagnosed with kidney cancer.”
Lunsford presents claims of design defect, failure to warn, negligence, gross negligence, battery, fraudulent concealment, active and constructive fraudulent transfer, and seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.
October 2024 PFAS Water Contamination Lawsuit Update
This new lawsuit will be consolidated with all similar lawsuits over PFAS contaminated drinking water, as well as firefighter cancer claims linked to the chemicals in AFFF foam, which are currently centralized before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Gergel in the District of South Carolina for coordinated discovery, pretrial proceedings and a series of early bellwether trials.
Last year, Judge Gergel established a bellwether process where a small group of lawsuits are going through case-specific discovery and pretrial motions in preparation for a series of early PFAS trial dates expected to begin in 2025, which will be used to help gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.
While the outcome of these early bellwether trials will not have any binding impact on other claims, it is expected that the amount of any PFAS water contamination lawsuit payouts awarded by juries may influence future settlement negotiations to resolve the litigation.
In June 2023, 3M Company agreed to pay over $12.5 billion in a PFAS water contamination settlement, to resolve claims brought by local water suppliers. However, there have not been any reported settlements in PFAS injury lawsuits, and none of those individual claims have yet gone before a jury.