After 4 years of hard-fought litigation, over 150 depositions, and millions of pages of discovery, FPC Litigation Group settled its PFAS water contamination lawsuit for the City of Rome, Georgia (“Rome”) for $280 Million Dollars. For decades, the Dalton, Georgia carpet industry – often referred to as the “Carpet Capital of the World” – has used toxic PFAS forever chemicals, including PFOS and PFOA, to impart stain and soil-resistant properties to its carpets. These PFAS chemicals are then sent to the sewers, where they pass through the local utility’s filtration process and are deposited onto a ten-thousand-acre Land Application System (“LAS”) operated by Dalton Utilities. These chemicals then pass through the LAS and into the surrounding waterways, including the nearby Conasauga River. The PFAS chemicals then flow down the Conasauga River into the Oostanaula River, which is the main source of drinking water for the City of Rome, Georgia, and its residents.
Although these chemicals were not regulated at the time the litigation was originated or litigated, FPC Litigation Group successfully withstood numerous Motions to Dismiss and Motions for Summary Judgment by the defendants. After fierce litigation with more than 30 Defendants, Rome whittled its case down by settling with the minor carpet manufacturer, support industry, and PFAS user Defendants, leaving the six largest PFAS contributors for trial. Heading into the Pre-Trial hearing, the Defendants included the major PFAS chemical manufacturers (3M, DuPont, and Daikin), the two largest carpet manufacturers in the world (Shaw and Mohawk/Aladdin), and the local utility (Dalton Utilities). Just days before trial, all of the Defendants settled with Rome for an unprecedented total of almost $280 Million. These settlement funds will allow the City of Rome, Georgia to build a brand-new Reverse Osmosis (“RO”) filtration treatment plant, which will capture and remove 99.9% of all PFAS in Rome’s drinking water. This case, and the subsequent settlement, was the culmination of a decade’s worth of PFAS litigation and experience by FPC Litigation Group and a huge win for its client, the City of Rome, Georgia.
This settlement marked one of the largest environmental settlements in the history of the State of Georgia and the largest PFAS settlement for an individual water authority in U.S. history. The settlement garnered national news coverage. For additional information related to this historic victory, please visit:
