Register below for our upcoming online seminar on April 3 to discuss potential claims and environmental impacts.
Last September, we reported on liability associated with “PFAS” (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
Thanks to their non-stick and waterproof qualities, PFAS are found in a range of widely used household products and at a range of locations where those products have been used and/or disposed of, eg landfill sites. PFAS are soluble in water and do not degrade easily. As a result, they are present throughout our environment.
In the period since September, it has been reported that attempts are being made to establish claimant groups in the towns of Bentham and Thornton Cleveleys in the north of England.
Last month, in view of this development, we hosted a seminar in our London office that looked at the sorts of UK PFAS claims that might be expected.
We looked at the prospects of:
- tort claims for personal injury arising from employment or product exposures;
- tort claims for personal injury arising from environmental exposures;
- tort claims for property damage; and
- Regulatory environmental clean up claims.
There is a wide range of potential defendants to such claims. Some of the claims have a high bar, but others are more plausible. None can be flatly discounted however, especially where scientific understanding is developing at pace, claims are well funded and claimant lawyers and funders firmly committed to the actions in the long term.
Going forward, a range of questions relating the causation and foreseeability will likely come before the UK courts, as will regulatory clean up triggers, contractual environmental liability transfer mechanisms (which are very common in corporate share and asset sales) and insurance policy wordings.
The seminar was very popular indeed and we will be repeating it online on 3 April for anyone that was unable to register first time around.
