More people in Cecil County are eligible to sign on to a class action suit against W.L. Gore for their alleged role in contaminating the drinking water and soil with PFAS/PFOA chemicals.
Residents in Fair Hill and Appleton will be able to sign on to the class action suit against the company most famous for creating Gore-Tex, a waterproof clothing fabric.
PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, have been linked to certain cancers and other illnesses like ulcerative colitis and thyroid disease.
Currently about 600 people in the Cherry Hill area have signed on to the suit, which was filed in 2021.
Philip Fedrico, a partner at Brockstedt Mandalas Federico, which represents the residents, says many people in the area suffer from diseases linked with PFAS and that soil and water in the area tests well above the safe limits for the chemicals.
He said Gore knew in the 1980s that the chemicals were dangerous.
“In the animal studies that were being done, the animals were getting cancer,” Fedrico said. “Gore at that time could have, and should have, taken the necessary precautions to filter and otherwise clean the water and the air before they put it into the community.”
The firm held a town hall with residents Thursday night.
“People last night were angry,” he said. “What did I do to deserve this? Why did they do this? Like, when did they know they were putting out PFAS? And why didn't they stop?”
The suit is asking the company to remediate the water and soil and pay for medical monitoring of residents.
One suit will probably go to trial at the end of this year, while another against Gore is likely to start in 2026.
At the same time, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is suing the company for the same reasons.
Brown said there were extensive damages for past and future contamination caused by Gore’s factory in Cecil County.
“I can tell you that the components of our damage claim right is to remediate the harm that's been done, the cost of abatement, to prevent future harm, and then to the extent that there's been - and we suspect that there has been - harm to people and communities, then we'll seek recovery in that regard as well,” Brown said.
Similar suits have brought in billions of dollars in settlement money to other states. DuPont settled for $1.18 billion in 2023 and 3M settled for more than $10 billion the same year.
The Maryland case states that Gore, through its connections to DuPont, knew as early as 1961 that PFAS chemicals were a health risk.
Gore claims that it eliminated PFAS chemicals from its raw materials to create Gore-Tex about a decade ago.
The company hired an environmental consulting firm for Cecil County and provided bottled water and filtration systems for residents.
Gore is pushing back against the AG’s claims.
“W. L. Gore & Associates denies the allegations in the complaint and is surprised by the Maryland Attorney General’s decision to initiate legal action, particularly in light of our proactive and intensive engagement with state regulators over the past two years,” the company wrote in a statement.
The AG’s case was announced last December.
