Travis Grulkowski of Miliman served as moderator of a panel comprised of Drew Growth, also with Miliman, Dieter Juedes of Husch Blackwell and Michael Meadows of Swiss Re at the AIRROC July 2025 Education Day. This session began with a background on PFAS, detailing the nature, purpose, and uses of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances.
The speakers provided an overview of the federal regulations governing PFAS, highlighting the recent standards enacted by the EPA and various state regulations concerning PFAS in drinking water.
The session also addressed the emerging PFAS litigation in the US, which spans products liability property damage, products liability bodily injury, occupational bodily injury, non-product property damage, non-product bodily injury, environmental liability, and fraudulent advertising liability. The litigation has evolved quickly, compared to prior mass torts. Settlements to date have addressed multiple sources of alleged injury, with over half involving claims asserting property damage. To date, the agreed and published settlements total approximately $17.3 billion. This figure includes large settlement payments from DuPont and 3M, with a focus on aqueous film forming foams (AFFF) product liability claims.
The panel also discussed the developing coverage issues implicated by PFAS claims, including the long tail allocation principles at issue and the potential application of exclusions. The speakers noted that there will also be practical considerations to consider, such as the impact of prior settlements and insolvencies.
A video replay of this presentation can be accessed in the AIRROC On-Demand Library at https://airroc.memberclicks.net/airroc-on-demand.
