Kelley Drye’s “‘Creative’ $2.5B DuPont Deal” for New Jersey reported as ​“PFAS Road Map for AGs”

Law360 reported on Kelley Drye’s settlement for New Jersey as “‘Creative’ $2.5B DuPont Deal In NJ PFAS Road Map for AGs”. The article covers the landmark DuPont settlement with the State of New Jersey, and what this settlement signals to other states involved in forever chemicals litigation.

Bill Jackson, who served as counsel for New Jersey, spoke about the unique challenges related to PFAS contamination and natural resource damages recoveries, as compared to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, the largest environmental contamination case in the history of the country in which Jackson represented the State of Louisiana.

“With PFAS, it’s been incredibly challenging and unlike anything I’ve seen before, because these were unregulated compounds. People didn’t understand what they were, and they weren’t subject to the law,” he said. ​“That’s where New Jersey has been remarkable. They have assumed a leadership role on these chemicals, from the first time that DuPont ever revealed they were unsafe.”

The recent 3M, DuPont, and other PFAS settlements reached for New Jersey, which are collectively valued at nearly $3 billion, are widely considered to provide a roadmap to resolution for other states asserting natural resource damages for PFAS contamination and impacts to the drinking water of over 100 million Americans.

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