The DuPont lawsuit is the more than two-decade run of litigation against E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company over its contamination of drinking water and the environment with perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA or C8, a chemical used to make Teflon and discharged for decades from the company’s Washington Works plant near Parkersburg, West Virginia. What began as one cattle farmer’s complaint has grown into class actions, thousands of personal injury cases, EPA enforcement, and state suits, producing settlements that now total in the billions and continue to be finalized through 2026.
How the Case Started
In 1998, Wilbur Tennant, a cattle farmer in Parkersburg, contacted Robert Bilott, an environmental attorney at the Cincinnati firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Tennant’s cows were dying after DuPont converted 66 acres it had bought from Tennant’s relatives into a landfill for Washington Works waste. A creek running through the landfill emptied into the pasture where the cattle grazed.1New York Times. The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare Bilott, who had spent his career defending chemical companies, took the case as a favor to his grandmother.
After a court order forced DuPont to hand over internal documents, Bilott found a much larger story. The records showed the company had been documenting PFOA’s health effects since at least 1954 and had detected PFOA in the Ohio River and nearby drinking water supplies during the 1980s. In 1981, DuPont pulled all female workers from Teflon operations at the West Virginia plant after reports of birth defects.2Rye Civic League. PFCs Summary Timeline DuPont settled the Tennant case in 2001 for an undisclosed amount.3Right Livelihood Foundation. Robert Bilott
The Class Action and the Six Linked Diseases
In August 2001, Bilott filed a class action, Leach v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., in the Circuit Court of Wood County, West Virginia, on behalf of roughly 70,000 to 80,000 people whose drinking water had been contaminated by Washington Works discharges.3Right Livelihood Foundation. Robert Bilott4Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. DuPont Case
DuPont settled in 2004 for $70 million. The money funded the C8 Health Project, a blood-testing and health-survey program, and DuPont was required to install water filtration for contaminated water districts. The settlement also created an independent three-member Science Panel of epidemiologists to determine whether a “probable link” existed between PFOA exposure and specific diseases. Class members could not file individual personal injury lawsuits until the panel finished its work. If a probable link was found, DuPont would have to fund medical monitoring in perpetuity and would lose its immunity from personal injury claims.5C8 Science Panel. Panel Background4Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. DuPont Case
The panel studied more than 32,000 community residents and over 4,300 DuPont workers between 2005 and 2011. Average PFOA blood concentration in the cohort near the plant was 32.9 nanograms per milliliter, about six times the level in the general U.S. population at the time.6National Library of Medicine. C8 Science Panel Epidemiological Investigation Between 2011 and 2012, the panel concluded PFOA exposure was probably linked to six diseases:
- Kidney cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Thyroid disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- High cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia)
- Pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia
The panel found no probable link for more than 40 other diseases it examined.4Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. DuPont Case The International Agency for Research on Cancer upgraded PFOA to a confirmed “human carcinogen” in 2023 and, for the first time, classified PFOS as a “possible human carcinogen.”7National Cancer Institute. PFAS Research
Personal Injury Trials and the $671 Million Settlement
Once the Science Panel’s findings unlocked individual claims, more than 3,500 personal injury cases were filed as part of a multidistrict litigation in the Southern District of Ohio. Three bellwether cases went to trial to test the legal theories and guide resolution of the broader pool.
Bartlett v. DuPont, a kidney cancer case, produced a $1.6 million compensatory verdict. Freeman v. DuPont, a testicular cancer case, returned $5.6 million. Vigneron v. DuPont, also involving testicular cancer, returned $12.5 million, including $10.5 million in punitive damages.8Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. DuPont C8 Lawsuit DuPont lost all three.
The district court then applied nonmutual offensive collateral estoppel, a doctrine that stopped DuPont from relitigating issues the bellwether juries had unanimously resolved, such as whether the company owed a duty of care, breached it, and should have foreseen the harm. DuPont fought the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court in E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Abbott, arguing bellwether trials are for information gathering, not binding rulings for future cases. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on November 20, 2023.9Cornell Law Institute. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Abbott
Facing thousands more trials under that precedent, DuPont and its spinoff Chemours agreed in February 2017 to pay $670.7 million to settle roughly 3,500 pending personal injury cases. The two companies split the cost evenly and neither admitted liability.10Forbes. DuPont Chemours PFOA Settlement11Chemours. Chemours Settles Indemnification Claims In 2021, DuPont paid another $83 million to settle additional cases, bringing the total recovery Bilott helped secure for individuals with PFOA-linked diseases to over $753 million.3Right Livelihood Foundation. Robert Bilott
EPA Penalty and the Federal PFAS Drinking Water Standard
The EPA pursued its own case in parallel. In July and December 2004, the agency filed complaints alleging DuPont violated the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by failing to report what it knew about PFOA’s risks, with some concealed information dating to 1981.12EPA. E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company and Chemours Company PFOA Settlements
On December 14, 2005, DuPont agreed to pay $10.25 million in civil penalties plus $6.25 million for supplemental environmental projects, a total of $16.5 million. It was the largest civil administrative penalty the EPA had ever obtained under any federal environmental statute at the time.12EPA. E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company and Chemours Company PFOA Settlements
In April 2024, the EPA finalized the first national enforceable drinking water standard for PFAS, setting a maximum contaminant level of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS individually. Public water systems must complete initial monitoring by April 2027 and meet the new limits by April 2029. The rule applies to roughly 66,000 public water systems nationwide.13EPA. Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes First-Ever National Drinking Water Standard
The Public Water Systems Settlement
In June 2023, Chemours, DuPont, and Corteva announced a nationwide agreement to resolve PFAS-related drinking water claims from public water systems, part of a multidistrict litigation in the District of South Carolina. The settlement fund totals $1.185 billion, split among Chemours ($592 million), DuPont ($400 million), and Corteva ($193 million).14DuPont. Chemours, DuPont, and Corteva Reach Comprehensive PFAS Settlement With U.S. Water Systems
The settlement covers public water systems that detected any level of PFAS by June 30, 2023 (Phase One, 55% of the fund) and systems required to monitor for PFAS under federal or state rules (Phase Two, 45%). Payments are calculated using a formula based on water flow rate and PFAS concentrations detected.15PFAS Water Settlement. DuPont Frequently Asked Questions Separately, 3M agreed to pay between $10.5 billion and $12.5 billion over thirteen years to resolve its share of the same MDL.16Maine Attorney General. 3M and DuPont Settlement Info Sheet
State Cases
Ohio
Ohio was the first state to sue DuPont over PFOA. Then-Attorney General Mike DeWine filed suit in 2018, alleging DuPont released PFOA-contaminated emissions and discharges from Washington Works into the Ohio River from the 1950s through 2013, despite knowing the chemical was toxic and carcinogenic. In November 2023, the state announced a $110 million settlement. Eighty percent went to address pollution from Washington Works, 16% to damages from firefighting foam, and 4% to natural resource mitigation. Ohio preserved its authority to set stricter drinking water standards.17Ohio Attorney General. State Secures $110 Million Settlement With DuPont
New Jersey
The largest state resolution came in August 2025, when Chemours, DuPont, and Corteva reached a proposed settlement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection valued at more than $2 billion. The agreement calls for $875 million in direct payments over 25 years: $225 million for natural resource damages, $525 million for environmental abatement including drinking water treatment, and $125 million for penalties, fees, and punitive damages. The companies must also fund up to $1.2 billion for remediation of contaminated sites and establish a $475 million reserve fund as a backstop against bankruptcy or failure to meet cleanup obligations.18New Jersey Attorney General. Landmark Settlement With DuPont Valued at Over $2 Billion
The deal covers four former industrial sites: Chambers Works in Pennsville, the Parlin facility in Sayreville, the Pompton Lakes Works munitions plant, and the Repauno Works site in Greenwich Township. It also transfers about 73 acres near Ramapo State Forest to the state and permanently preserves nearly 1,400 more acres through conservation easements.19New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. DuPont Settlement The settlement followed a month-long bench trial before Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb in federal court in Camden.20NJ Spotlight News. Landmark Forever Chemical Pollution Trial in South Jersey As of mid-2026, it is in public comment and awaiting final court approval. New Jersey officials expect to recover more than $3 billion total from chemical manufacturers to address PFAS contamination statewide.21Manufacturing Dive. DuPont Corteva Chemours PFAS Settlement
New York
In July 2025, DuPont announced a $27 million settlement with the town of Hoosick and the village of Hoosick Falls, resolving a 2016 class action over PFOA contamination of the public water supply and private wells from a nearby DuPont facility. The agreement includes $6 million to expand a medical monitoring program, with the rest distributed to property owners based on assessed values. Preliminary approval was granted in November 2025, and a final approval hearing is scheduled for April 2026. DuPont made no admission of liability.22ClassAction.org. $27M Class Action Settlement Ends Lawsuit Over Alleged Hoosick Falls, NY PFOA Drinking Water Contamination23New York Times. Hoosick DuPont Class Action Settlement
Why Three Companies Now Share the Bill
In 2015, DuPont spun off its performance chemicals business into The Chemours Company. As part of the deal, Chemours paid a nearly $4 billion dividend to DuPont and took on significant environmental liabilities from former DuPont operations.24E&E News. Chemical Giants Strike $4B Deal on PFAS Liabilities In 2019, Chemours sued DuPont in the Delaware Court of Chancery, alleging DuPont had “grossly underestimated” what it offloaded, pointing to gaps such as a $128 million maximum PFOA lawsuit estimate that preceded a $671 million settlement. That case was dismissed in favor of arbitration.25Chemical & Engineering News. Chemours Sues DuPont Over Environmental Liabilities
In January 2021, Chemours, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., and Corteva, Inc. (the agricultural spinoff from the 2017 DuPont-Dow merger) signed a binding memorandum of understanding to share future PFAS costs. Chemours bears 50% of qualified spending, and DuPont and Corteva together bear the other 50%, with their combined share capped at $2 billion. The agreement runs until December 31, 2040, or until aggregate spending reaches $4 billion, whichever comes first. The three companies also funded an escrow account of up to $1 billion, each side contributing $500 million over eight years.26U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2021 Memorandum of Understanding That formula has governed every major PFAS settlement since.
Where Things Stand
PFOA was banned globally in 2019 under the Stockholm Convention.27CHEM Trust. Dark Waters and PFOA FAQ DuPont says it stopped manufacturing PFOA in the United States by 2013. But PFOA belongs to a class of thousands of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that do not break down in the environment, the so-called “forever chemicals.” In 2018, Bilott filed a new class action targeting the broader PFAS group, seeking funding for continued health studies.28PublicSource. PFAS Lawyer Dark Waters Rob Bilott DuPont With state cases still moving, the New Jersey settlement awaiting approval, and the federal drinking water standard set to take effect in 2029, the legal reckoning over PFAS is still in progress.