Add the village of Westfield to the spate of plaintiffs against the makers of so-called “forever chemicals.”

In the past two months the states of Rhode Island and New Mexico have filed lawsuits against chemical companies that made chemicals known as PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The chemicals have been linked to cancer and other health problems in humans and are called “forever chemicals” because they don’t degrade in the environment and remain in the bloodstream.

The village of Mayville filed a lawsuit in 2021 seeking damages from chemical companies after village water wells were contaminated with chemicals from firefighting foam. All but one of the companies named in the Mayville lawsuit have been named by the village of Westfield, including 3M Company of Wilmington, Delaware; AGC Chemicals Americas Inc., of Wilmington; Amerex Corporation of Birmingham, Alabama; Archroma Management LLC of Switzerland; Arkema Inc. of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; Basf Corporation of Wilmington; Buckeye Fire Equipment Company of Pepper Pike, Ohio; Carrier Global Corporation of Wilmington; Chemdesign Products Inc of Wilmington; Chemguard Inc. of Wilmington; Chemicals, Inc. of Baytown, Texas; Clariant Corp. of Madison, Wisconsin; Corteva, Inc. of Wilmington; Deepwater Chemicals Inc. of Wilmington; Dynax Corporation of Dover, Delaware; E. I. Dupont De Nemours and Company of Wilmington; Nation Ford Chemical Company of Fort Mill, South Carolina; National Foam, Inc. of Wilmington; The Chemours Company of Wilmington; and Tyco Fire Products LP of Wilmington.

“Due to the persistent and long-term nature of PFAS contamination, plaintiff is expected to suffer damages and incur the costs associated with these and other ongoing necessary remedial actions for many years to come,” attorneys Patrick Lanciotti, Andrew Croner and Nicholas Mindicino of Napoli Shkolnik in New York City wrote in the legal filing on Westfied’s behalf.

The case is likely to follow the village of Mayville’s case and be removed to federal court under a federal law that allows for local court cases to be removed if a defendant’s actions were undertaken at the direction of a federal officer. In the case of PFAS lawsuits in New York, courts have found removing the cases from local courts proper because the PFAs were made according to U.S. military specifications. The notice of removal filed in July 2021 is the last entry in the state court system’s docket for Mayville’s case.

“By seeking to impose tort liability on Tyco and/or Chemguard for alleged injuries to plaintiff that were caused in whole or part by Tyco and Chemguard’s compliance with military specifications, plaintiff is attempting to use state tort law to attack design choices dictated by the military,” a brief written by Michael Horn of Archer and Greiner PC in New Jersey states in the Mayville case.