Property Owner Class Certified in N.H. PFOA Lawsuit

CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge has certified a class of Merrimack, N.H. property owners in a lawsuit accusing Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. of leaking chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) into the town’s groundwater.

In a Dec. 29 order, Judge Joseph Laplante of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire certified the liability class as to the claims for trespass, negligence and negligent failure-to-warn.

The plaintiffs, current or former residents of Merrimack, N.H., brought tort claims alleging that the defendants’ manufacturing process at its facility in the town used chemicals that included PFOA. The lawsuit says due …