Hundreds of current and former Bucks and Montgomery residents are party to a mass tort lawsuit for personal injury claims against six manufacturers of firefighting foams.
A writ of summons was filed Feb. 22 in Montgomery County court by Norristown law firm Creedon & Feliciani and others, on behalf of 461 current and former residents and individuals who worked or served on a trio of military bases in the area.
On Wednesday, Creedon & Feliciani stated in a post on its Facebook page that the plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages “as a result of their suffering from injuries/diseases they believe are caused by ingestion, etc.
of water polluted with the chemicals PFOA and PFOS.” The mass tort personal injury suit is separate from several class action lawsuits related to the contamination that have been filed by some of the same firms against the military and foam manufacturers.
Four of the class action suits make similar claims against the foam manufacturers: that their product was defective; that the companies had “known or should have known” the dangers of selling it; and that the companies failed to recall or warn users after its toxicity was established.
However, the class action suits make no reference to seeking awards for personal injuries.
Instead, they focus on winning a blood-testing program and health study, medical monitoring, a private well testing program, and for financial hardships such as cleaning up individual properties or water supplies.
Last month the plaintiffs in the class action suits asked the court to allow them to combine into a single case, and the firms involved are currently preparing a combined complaint, Feliciani said.
New York City law firm Weitz & Luxenberg is interim class counsel, meaning they will serve as a representative of the plaintiffs and firms from each of the individual cases until the court makes a decision about the class action status of the combined case.
Enjoying our content?