Final week, the New Jersey state court docket licensed the Tomas Vera et al. v. Middlesex Water Co. (MID-L-6306-21, Superior Courtroom of New Jersey, Middlesex County) case as a category motion lawsuit. The plaintiffs are searching for damages from the native water firm, Middlesex Water Co., stemming from PFAS contamination of the county’s ingesting water provide. The PFAS class motion lawsuit is an attention-grabbing take a look at case that needs to be intently adopted by any water utility grappling with PFAS remediation points.

PFAS Class Motion Lawsuit

Within the Middlesex Water Co. case, the water utility at one level mailed native residents a letter indicating that the ingesting water sources had been contaminated with unsafe ranges of PFOA. The plaintiffs adopted the recommendation of the water firm and used bottled water, purchased water filters, and visited their docs for medical monitoring, all of which was paid for out-of-pocket. It’s these prices that they search in damages from the water firm.

Middlesex Water Co. challenged the category certification, arguing in essence that the plaintiffs claims are too dissimilar to proceed as a category. This is because of the truth that totally different plaintiffs could not have adopted the entire remedial measures suggested by Middlesex Water Co., some could have adopted all of them, some could have incurred extra bills than others, and the details of every plaintiffs’ case had been too totally different. The state court docket decide disagreed and located that the plaintiffs had met the required necessities for class certification.

Classes For Water Utilities

Previous to the lawsuit, Middlesex Water Co. started building on a brand new water plant to filter and remediate PFOA from space ingesting water sources. The utility additionally introduced its personal separate lawsuit in opposition to PFOA chemical producer 3M to recoup the prices of the brand new water plant, and any damages stemming from the Tomas Vera lawsuit may theoretically be added to the pending lawsuit in opposition to 3M.

Of significance for water utilities throughout the nation is the truth that the Middlesex Water Co. took many measures to alert residents to the PFOA points and offered options till the brand new water therapy plant building may end in 2023. Nonetheless, the corporate finds itself embroiled in expensive litigation. Whereas every state handles class motion certifications and damages points otherwise, the case could trigger some water utilities to contemplate providing to reimburse residents for out-of-pocket bills up entrance. Different firms could really feel that the alleged courses in future comparable lawsuits shouldn’t be granted class certification and should problem the certification request as Middlesex Water Co. did. Whatever the plan of action chosen, although, the vital takeaway is that water utilities should completely take into account ramifications of sending out discover letters just like the one despatched by Middlesex Water Co. with the intention to correctly plan for future monetary points.