Firefighting foam company reaches $750 million PFAS settlement

The company Tyco Fire Products today reached a $750 million settlement to help resolve claims related to its firefighting foam, which allegedly contaminated drinking water systems with harmful PFAS chemicals for decades.

Once the settlement is approved, an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 US public water systems could receive money to treat contaminated drinking water, said Joe Rice, co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs with the Motley Rice law firm. Water systems that test positive for PFAS by May 15 may be eligible to benefit from the settlement.

“$750 million towards this problem, that is a huge contribution,” said Rice.

Tyco, a subsidiary of Johnson Controls, does not admit liability or wrongdoing by agreeing to the settlement.

The announcement builds on last summer’s landmark settlements from the companies 3M, Dupont, and others, which could total up to nearly $14 billion to assist affected water systems as they test for and clean up PFAS contamination. 3M’s settlement received final approval April 1.

Earlier this week, US regulators announced the nation’s first legally enforceable limits for levels of six toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, a move the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says should prevent thousands of deaths and reduce serious illnesses in people across the country.

The Tyco case is part of the PFAS multi-district litigation (MDL) overseen by Honorable Richard Gergel in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Tyco was originally a defendant in the City of Stuart, Florida v. 3M case, which led to the chemical conglomerate’s 2023 settlement of up to $12.5 billion, but Tyco and other firefighting foam manufacturers were dismissed before the case was settled.

In coming weeks, counsel for the plaintiffs will file a motion to grant the Tyco settlement preliminary approval, said Rice. If the motion is granted, potentially eligible water systems around the country will receive a notice giving them approximately 45 days to consider the settlement. Following a final hearing, Gergel will likely approve the final settlement in October or November, said Rice. He expects that water systems will begin receiving money from the Tyco settlement in the first quarter of 2025.

However, payouts from the 3M and Dupont settlements may reach water systems much sooner.

“If people start getting their claims in, we should see money by the end of the summer,” said Rice.

Beginning in 1976, Tyco developed and sold aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), a type of foam used to put out fires caused by oil, gasoline, or other flammable liquids. AFFF traditionally contained the PFAS chemicals perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) or perluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

By the 1970s, Tyco allegedly knew that these chemicals presented health and environmental risks, according to a complaint filed with the MDL.

AFFF sold by Tyco and other firefighting foam companies no longer contains PFOS or PFOA but still contains other PFAS chemicals, according to the complaint.

Last summer, Tyco announced that it will stop making and selling fluorinated firefighting foams by June 2024, instead transitioning to alternatives that do not contain PFAS.

PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to numerous health effects including some cancers, don’t break down naturally and can leach into drinking water from firefighting foam, industrial releases, landfills, and other sources. An estimated 70 million people in the US have PFAS in their drinking water, according to new EPA data from one third of public water systems released in February, while the Environmental Working Group (EWG) estimates that the number may be as high as 200 million.

(Featured image by PAN XIAOZHEN on Unsplash.)