Georgia Residents Can Pursue PFAS Remediation Cost Claims, Federal Judge Rules

A federal judge in Georgia has ruled that several major companies must face trial over whether Summerville residents can recover damages for past water rate increases tied to cleaning up “forever chemicals” in the city’s water supply.

U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. denied summary judgment motions from Daikin America Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., and 3M on Friday, finding there are still disputed facts about each company’s role in the discharge of PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, into the Raccoon Creek Watershed near Summerville.

The judge found that DuPont and Daikin cannot avoid liability simply because they didn’t sell their PFAS-containing products directly to the textile manufacturers at the Mount Vernon Mills plant upstream from Summerville. Daikin had argued it wasn’t negligent in warning about the chemicals’ dangers because the mill’s manufacturers were sophisticated users, but Thrash pointed to Georgia law establishing that a party need only have aided in causing an injury to be held liable — noting that the fact Daikin’s products reached the mill only through distributors does not clear the company of responsibility for the resulting contamination.

The lawsuit was originally filed in February 2021 by Earl Parris Jr., a former Summerville councilman, in a sprawling class action accusing more than half a dozen companies of contributing to the pollution of the city’s water. The suit centers on discharge from the Mount Vernon Mills denim plant in nearby Trion, and the City of Summerville later intervened as a plaintiff. The suit alleges the named companies were negligent in selling PFAS-containing products to textile manufacturers at the mill.

Attorneys representing Summerville, Jay Friedman and Ethan Wright of Friedman Dazzio & Zulanas PC, said the city has spent years working to hold the parties responsible for the pollution accountable for its cleanup, calling the court’s recent rulings “a step in that direction.” The attorneys added that given the region’s heavy textile and carpet industry presence, Northwest Georgia is arguably among the most heavily impacted areas in the country for forever chemical pollution.

According to the ruling, there is enough evidence for a jury to decide whether Daikin knew its products contained PFAS, knew those products were reaching the mill through third-party distributors, and knew they were being used there — along with evidence that Daikin did not follow its own internal policy requiring it to work with customers on proper recycling and disposal of the chemicals.

Judge Thrash did grant Daikin partial summary judgment on claims tied to its short-chain fluorotelomer products, finding no evidence that those specific products contributed meaningfully to the PFOA contamination found in the Raccoon Creek watershed.

DuPont and its spinoff, Chemours Co., had argued they had no obligation to warn residents directly since they didn’t sell textile chemicals straight to the mills. The judge disagreed, finding DuPont still had a duty to warn Mount Vernon Mills itself about the dangers of the chemicals, pointing to evidence that DuPont knew for years its products were toxic and did not break down in the body, that standard wastewater treatment could not remove PFAS, and that discharging affected wastewater and sludge would contaminate local water supplies.

The court also found a genuine dispute over whether 3M adequately warned Mount Vernon Mills about the dangers of improperly disposing of PFAS-laden waste. 3M argued it met its duty by including disposal instructions on the Material Safety Data Sheets packaged with its products, but the judge noted the company has known for decades that its products contained PFAS and should not be disposed of through wastewater or sewage systems, and found that 3M never specifically addressed how the mill should safely dispose of its products or the risks tied to discharging that waste into local watersheds.

The court’s analysis leaned on the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Stuckey v. Northern Propane Gas Co., which held that when evaluating a supplier’s duty to warn, courts must look not at whether the supplier warned an intermediary, but at whether that intermediary’s knowledge was sufficient to actually protect the end consumer.

Plaintiffs won partial class certification in September representing 4,500 residents seeking damages for past water cost increases tied to the cleanup of the forever chemicals.

Representatives for Parris, DuPont, Daikin, and 3M did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Parris is represented by Gary A. Davis, Keith A. Johnston, and Louis W. Ringger III of Davis Johnston & Ringger PC, and Thomas Causby of Causby Firm LLC. Summerville is represented by J. Anderson Davis of Davis Lucas Carter LLP, and Ethan Wright, Jay Friedman, and Lee Patterson of Friedman Dazzio & Zulanas PC. Daikin is represented by Kurt A. Johnson, Louis A. Chaiten, and James R. Saywell of Jones Day. 3M is represented by attorneys from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP, Lightfoot Franklin & White LLC, and Irwin Fritchie Urquhart Moore & Daniels LLC. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. and Chemours are represented by attorneys from Lightfoot Franklin & White.

Source: Law360, “Ga. Residents Can Pursue PFAS Remediation Cost Claims,” by Elaine Briseño, July 13, 2026.