Johnson Controls Settling PFAS Lawsuit for $17.5 Million
The company will pay a group of Peshtigo families that filed a class action lawsuit.
Johnson Controls. Photo by Dave Reid.
Johnson Controls has agreed to pay $17.5 million to families living in a portion of the Town of Peshtigo in Marinette County who were exposed to PFAS chemicals from the company’s firefighting foam training site in the area.
The class-action settlement was announced Tuesday. It’s part of a group about 500 cases that have been consolidated in federal court in North Carolina relating to contamination from and exposure to firefighting foams containing PFAS, the abbreviation for per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances.
The Town of Peshtigo case involves people who live or used to live in an area just south of the city of Marinette and bordering a Tyco Fire Products training facility, one of the largest PFAS contamination sites in the state, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Plaintiffs in the lawsuit charge that runoff from firefighting foam used at the training site contaminated wells in the area with PFAS chemicals. Tyco is now part of Johnson Controls.
The settlement covers an area about three square miles with nearly 300 homes, accounting for up to about 1,200 residents, according to an estimate in the settlement filing. To qualify for a share of the settlement, residents or former residents have to have lived for at least a year in the designated area between Jan. 1, 1965 and Dec. 31, 2020.
The $17.5 million settlement amount covers property damage, exposure and personal injury claims. The company, which does not admit fault in the settlement, says the figure doesn’t include the cost of providing bottled water, treatment systems and a connection to municipal water supplies to replace the well water, which Johnson Controls and Tyco are funding separately.
Reprinted with permission of Wisconsin Examiner.
More about the PFAS Problem
- Republicans Vote to Create $125 Million Fund To Address PFAS - Anya van Wagtendonk - May 19th, 2023
- Conservation voters laud first step in addressing PFAS - Wisconsin Conservation Voters - May 18th, 2023
- Wisconsin Conservation Voters mobilizes membership to advocate for PFAS remediation in the state budget - Wisconsin Conservation Voters - May 16th, 2023
- New PFAS Fish Consumption Advisory For Green Bay And Associated Tributaries - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - May 4th, 2023
- New Toolkit Available To Help Local Leaders Address PFAS Contamination In Drinking Water - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - May 2nd, 2023
- DNR Seeking Public Input On PFAS Contamination In Marinette, Peshtigo And Surrounding Communities - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - Apr 19th, 2023
- DNR Says Tyco Failing To Comply With Marinette PFAS Investigation - Danielle Kaeding - Apr 14th, 2023
- DNR Seeking Public Comment For Environmental Review Of City Of Wausau Safe Drinking Water Loan Program Project - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - Apr 3rd, 2023
- DNR Seeking Public Comment For Environmental Review Of Rib Mountain Sanitary District Safe Drinking Water Loan Program Project - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - Mar 31st, 2023
- Peshtigo Area Could Get Superfund-Style Cleanup - Danielle Kaeding - Mar 24th, 2023
Read more about PFAS Problem here
