Personal Injury News: Pick Of Last Month: Feb-2021
PFAS Contamination Results In $17.5M Settlement With Tyco
Tyco Fire Products, a major manufacturer of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), and two other companies agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit over per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS contamination in the Peshtigo and Marinette areas in Wisconsin.
According to the class action lawsuit filed in 2018, on behalf of 270 households, the defendants were alleged of polluting private wells and water supplies of the properties since 1960. The suit claimed that the wells were contaminated with PFAS, which came from the Tyco Firefighting Technology Center in Marinette.
PFAS has been linked to several adverse health effects, which include thyroid disease, liver damage, high cholesterol, obesity, and cancer due to its ability to enter and stay in the human body through air, food, and water, as noted in the past studies. Experts have also stated that the toxic chemicals take thousands of years to degrade.
The multi-million dollar settlement includes $15 million for class-wide claims and property damage, and the individuals who have been diagnosed with various types of cancer linked to PFAS exposure will receive $2.5 million. Each resident is estimated to get between $60,000 and $70,000 per household from the settlement, depending upon the levels of contamination.
The defendants have denied any wrongdoing, and the settlement is yet to be approved by a judge, post which an appointed special administrator will divide the funds for distribution. According to a lead attorney representing the plaintiffs, the amount might be disbursed within six to eight months.
In a similar lawsuit where Jersey City property owners will receive $5 million from PPG Industries as per the terms of a proposed agreement over a class action filed against the company claiming that waste from a former chromium plant presented health risks and lowered property values.
The two defendants named in the lawsuit are PPG, a Pittsburgh-based paint and coatings company, who operated a chrome factory on Garfield Avenue from 1954 to 1963, and Honeywell International Inc., a successor to Mutual Chemical Company of America.
The lawsuit was filed in 2010 by three residents who owned property on Jersey City’s south side. The suit alleged that the defendants dumped wastes, including the carcinogenic byproduct hexavalent chromium, and the hazardous materials were used for fill at construction sites across the city.
In 2015, Honeywell settled the lawsuit for $10 million and paid roughly $3,000 to about 2,000 residents across the former West Side Avenue plant, where it dumped waste for more than 50 years until the mid-20th century.
PPG was held liable for a $367 million site cleanup by a federal appeals court in a separate order in May. Under the current settlement deal, current and former owners of roughly 1,500 properties in Bergen-Lafayette would approximately receive between $1,000 and $2,500, depending on the location of their homes.
The settlement agreement does not include any admissibility of wrongdoing from the company. U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas will approve the settlement, which is scheduled to be heard in January.
Boeing 737 MAX Crash Results In $244M Penalty
In January, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the aircraft maker Boeing agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion to resolve a federal charge of “criminal misconduct” over the collisions in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people.
The crash also resulted in the grounding of the company's 737 MAX jetliner model around the world, and the ban was lifted only after Boeing made safety upgrades and improvements in pilot training. The maker was also charged with a count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said that the tragic crashes of Lion Air flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers.
The billion-dollar deal includes $243.6 million, which will be paid as a fine to the U.S. government for the criminal conduct and is considered to be a fine at the low end of the sentencing guidelines as per the court agreement.
The agreement additionally includes $500 million as compensation to the families of the 346 people who died in two crashes of the MAX and $1.77 billion or 70% of the $2.5 billion in compensation payments to Boeing’s MAX airline customers.
The settlement agreement also conditions that if the company meets a series of requirements, the charge of criminal fraud will be tossed after three years.
2015 Gold King Mine Spill: NM To Receive $11M
A 2016 lawsuit filed by the state of New Mexico over the 2015 Gold King Mine spill has reached a settlement, and the state will receive $11 million from Silverton-based Sunnyside Gold Corp., owned by the international mining conglomerate Kinross Gold Corp.
The environmental disaster happened when Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) caused the release of about 3 million gallons of water laced with heavy metals into the Animas and San Juan rivers.
The accident was caused because Sunnyside Gold Corp. had plugged its own mine pool in the region and hence is probably responsible as some believe that the pool must have filled up and started to spill out of Gold King.
The state issued a press release noting that out of the settlement deal, $10 million is for the environmental response cost and loss of tax revenue, and $1 million is for damages caused to New Mexico’s natural resources.
The governor of New Mexico said, "we have won this battle, but we will continue to fight as we hold the U.S. EPA responsible for this terrible incident.”
The lawsuit against the EPA and its contractors where the state is reported to seeking $130 million is expected to go to trial in early 2022 and currently is moving through the federal court.
The Navajo Nation also reached a settlement for $10 million with the company and is seeking a claim for $162 million with the EPA. The director of reclamation operations for Sunnyside Gold said both settlements were “no-fault settlements.”
In August last year, the EPA agreed to fund $3 million in clean water projects and another $360 million for remediation projects at abandoned mine sites in the state of Utah after the state filed a similar lawsuit.
$180M Penalty For Toyota In Clean Air Act Violations
The United States has filed and simultaneously settled a civil lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor North America Inc., Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. The lawsuit claims that the company failed to notify EPA and violated the Clean Air Act as announced by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The U.S. has filed a civil complaint along with a consent decree that will mandate Toyota to make a civil penalty payment of $180 million. It will be the largest penalty for violating EPA’s emission-reporting requirements. It will require the company to ensure timely investigation and reporting of emission-related defects to EPA and include training, communication, and oversight requirements. The court is yet to approve the consent decree.
Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said that the settlement is a milestone for the administration as it highlights the importance of adhering to the environmental laws, including EPA’s regulations.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said that Toyota has been violating regulations provided by EPA for a decade. He added that the company had been profit-oriented by turning a blind eye towards the Clean Air Act. It has continuously violated the EPA regulations by designing vehicles that emit excess air pollutants. He further stated that a $180 million civil penalty and agreement to injunctive relief is the perfect action against the company to prevent it from repeated violations.
Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said that Toyota repeatedly failed to inform them about potential defects in their cars to EPA and considers it as a serious violation of the Clean Air Act.
Another complaint filed in Manhattan federal court alleges that the company violated the Clean Air Act from approximately 2005 until at least late 2015.
The list of delayed filling from Toyota includes 78 EDIRs. It also failed to 20 VERRs and more than 200 quarterly reports.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has approved a $56 million settlement that Columbia Gas of Massachusetts and its parent, NiSource, had agreed in July to pay over a series of explosions and fires in the state in 2018. The settlement approval news was announced by the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
The horrific incident happened on September 13, 2018, when excessive pressure in natural gas lines owned by Columbia Gas caused a series of explosions and fires. It occurred in as many as 40 homes, with over 80 individual fires, in the Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts, towns of Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover.
One person was killed, almost two dozen were injured, more than 100 buildings were damaged, and 30,000 were forced to evacuate their homes.
The incident resulted in multiple class action lawsuits against the company for negligence and destruction of property. The $56 million settlement amount will aid debt relief to low-income natural gas customers and fund clean energy and energy efficiency measures in older homes and buildings.
As a part of the settlement deal, Columbia Gas also requires to leave Massachusetts and transfer its assets to Eversource Energy. In separate actions, the company agreed to pay a $53 million federal fine, along with a $143 million settlement for the class-action lawsuits.
DPU Chairman Matthew Nelson said, “Our approval of this settlement ensures that Columbia Gas is held accountable for the tragic gas incident in the Merrimack Valley, and provides needed support to the impacted communities and low-income residents.”
Family Of A Deceased Maryland Football Player Gets $3.5M
The University of Maryland has agreed to pay a settlement of $3.5 million to the parents of a football player who died of heatstroke following a workout in 2018.
The settlement was announced in a meeting agenda released by the Maryland Board of Public Works. The approval for the settlement will be declared at the board’s meeting on Jan. 27.
The 19-year-old footballer collapsed during an outdoor conditioning practice held by the team on May 29, 2018. He was treated at the team training complex before being admitted to the hospital. Two weeks later, on June 13, he died in the hospital.
The president of the school acknowledged that the school authorities failed in proper treatment for the boy. He even apologized to the boy's family.
An investigation report from a sports medicine consultant indicated that the medical officials of the school failed to detect escalating symptoms associated with exertional heat illness.
The university eventually fired the football coach and accepted the resignation of the team’s strength and conditioning coach. Maryland has also outlined strict guidelines for practices to avoid such mishaps in the future.