PFAS Water Contamination Lawsuit Lawsuit in Michigan

Federal PFAS claims are centralized in MDL 2873 (In re: AFFF Products Liability Litigation) in the District of South Carolina (Charleston) before Judge Richard M. Gergel. Michigan plaintiffs and water utilities file directly into MDL 2873. Michigan is one of the most PFAS-contaminated states in the nation, with the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART) identifying over 11,000 sites of potential PFAS concern and 170+ sites with documented environmental contamination.

3M's $10.3 billion water utility settlement (December 2023) and the DuPont/Chemours/Corteva $1.185 billion settlement cover eligible Michigan public water systems. Michigan has some of the strictest PFAS MCLs in the nation (enacted 2020, pre-dating EPA's 2024 federal standards). Separately, 3M paid Michigan $55 million in 2020 to settle state environmental PFAS claims — the first state-level 3M PFAS settlement in the country.

Michigan's statute of limitations for personal injury is 3 years under MCL § 600.5805(2). For latent PFAS diseases, Michigan applies the discovery rule under MCL § 600.5827 tolling limitations from when the plaintiff discovered or should have discovered the injury and its causal connection to PFAS. Michigan's aggressive PFAS enforcement posture and extensive contamination site mapping make it one of the highest-activity PFAS litigation states.

Michigan's major PFAS contamination sites include: Wurtsmith AFB (Oscoda, Iosco County — one of the largest AFFF plumes in the U.S., contaminating Van Etten Lake and Oscoda Township drinking water), Kalamazoo area (Parchment municipal water PFAS contamination from former paper mills in 2018 — a landmark case prompting Michigan's accelerated PFAS action), Grayling Army Airfield, Selfridge Air National Guard Base (Macomb County), K.I. Sawyer AFB (Marquette County, Upper Peninsula), Battle Creek's Fort Custer Training Center, and industrial 3M manufacturing legacy contamination in Western Michigan.