$300 Million PFAS Cleanup for 400,000 North Alabama Residents in Twenty-Year 3M Class Action

In 2002, a 3M employee named James St. John filed suit in the Circuit Court of Morgan County against his employer and a group of industrial co-defendants, alleging that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) manufactured at 3M's Decatur, Alabama plant had been disposed of in ways that contaminated soil, groundwater, and waterways across a broad swath of north Alabama. St. John died in 2015, but the litigation bearing his name continued for two more decades.

The defendants named in the case included 3M Co., Daikin America, Dyneon, Synagro, Toray Fluorofibers, BFI Waste Systems, the City of Decatur, and Morgan County. PFAS compounds, sometimes called 'forever chemicals' because they do not break down in the environment or the human body, had accumulated in the Tennessee River watershed at concentrations the EPA links to increased risks of kidney, prostate, and testicular cancers, as well as developmental harm in children. Testing near the Decatur plant found PFAS at levels far above the EPA's health advisory threshold of 70 parts per trillion for drinking water.

D. Leon Ashford and Bruce McKee of Hare Wynn Newell and Newton in Birmingham led the plaintiffs' team through the long litigation. The class ultimately encompassed approximately 400,000 residents and property owners in six counties: Morgan, Lawrence, Limestone, Lauderdale, Franklin, and Colbert. A subclass of farmers and landowners whose properties received PFAS-contaminated biosolid sludge was also certified.

In October 2021, the parties reached an agreement in principle. Retired Morgan County Judge Glenn Thompson granted preliminary approval of the settlement in December 2021 and scheduled a final approval hearing for April 2022. Court documents describe the total value as exceeding $300 million. The breakdown included roughly $150 million in remediation costs the defendants had already incurred, approximately $99 million directed to Decatur-area cleanup and community redevelopment projects, and about $60 million committed to future environmental work. The remediation obligations required defendants to investigate, sample, and clean up contaminated soils, groundwater, ponds, and sediment at the Decatur facility and at legacy disposal sites, with ongoing monitoring of PFAS migration from industrial operations.

The judge granted final approval in April 2022. Because the settlement is structured around environmental remediation rather than cash disbursements to individuals, class members in the six counties were not slated to receive personal payments. Instead, the relief takes the form of a court-enforceable cleanup program covering an area where, as Ashford acknowledged, the chemicals cannot be fully eliminated but can be substantially reduced through sustained remediation.