U.S. court ruling rejects massive class action over ‘forever chemicals’ (NYSE:MMM)

In a victory for 3M (NYSE:MMM), DuPont (DD), Corteva (CTVA), Chemours (CC) and other manufacturers of toxic “forever chemicals,” the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday vacated a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed nearly 12M Ohio residents to sue the companies as a group in a class action lawsuit.

The court ruled the lead plaintiff had filed too broad a complaint against the manufacturers, and had not shown the PFAS substances found in his body could be traced directly to the companies.

“Seldom is so ambitious a case filed on so slight a basis,” the judge in the case wrote, noting there are thousands of companies that have manufactured PFAS chemicals but just 10 were listed as defendants.

The appeals court instructed the lower court to dismiss the lawsuit, which had aimed to force the companies to pay for studies analyzing the health impacts of the chemicals.

The lawsuit is among thousands that have been filed against 3M (MMM), DuPont (DD) and other companies in recent years over alleged PFAS contamination.