Suing Under CERCLA for PFAS Response Costs: The Public Water System and Municipal Plaintiff’s Case

Hunter J. Shkolnik, Partner | Napoli Shkolnik PLLC

Hunter J. Shkolnik is a name partner of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, where he leads the discovery and trial teams in the firm’s mass tort litigations, including its environmental, pharmaceutical, and medical device cases. One of the nation’s most experienced courtappointed plaintiffs’ leaders, he was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee of In re Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2873, by U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel of the District of South Carolina — the MDL that has delivered historic class settlements to public water systems from 3M, DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, Tyco, and BASF — and he co-chairs the American Association for Justice’s PFC Water Contamination Litigation Group. He served as Co-Liaison Counsel in the Flint Water Crisis Litigation, which produced a $600 million settlement with the State of Michigan, the City of Flint, and other defendants, and he has recently served on settlement and creditors’ committees in the Kidde AFFF bankruptcy (alongside MDL Lead Counsel), the Johnson & Johnson/Red River Talc bankruptcy, the National Opioid Litigation, and the New York State Opioid Litigation. He currently serves as a chairman, leader, or courtappointed representative on plaintiff steering committees in numerous drug and mass tort proceedings across the country.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Shkolnik earned his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University and his B.A., cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts. He is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and North Carolina; before the Supreme Court of the United States; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Ninth Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Districts of New York, the District of New Jersey, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Missouri.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Shkolnik has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America every year from 2018 through 2027 for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs, Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs, Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs, and Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, and has been named a New York Metro Super Lawyer every year from 2006 through 2026. He has been named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers (2023–2026) and Lawdragon’s 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers (2026), and to The National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Lawyers and Top 10 Aviation Trial Lawyers. He is a member of the American Association for Justice Leaders Forum, a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, and a recipient of the Trial Lawyers of Puerto Rico’s El Toro Award, and Law360 named him among its Legal Lions of the Week in July 2026. His court appointments include Co-Chair of the Torts Creditors Committee in the Red River Talc (Johnson & Johnson) bankruptcy (S.D. Tex. 2024) and the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committees in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation (MDL 2804), the Insulin Pricing Litigation (MDL 3080), the MultiPlan Health Insurance Provider Litigation (MDL 3121), the Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Litigation (MDL 2738), and the Invokana Litigation (MDL 2750), along with co-lead, liaison, and steering committee roles in more than two dozen other MDLs and consolidated mass torts.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Shkolnik co-chairs AAJ’s PFC Water Contamination Group and its Actos Bladder Cancer Litigation Group, co-chairs AAJ’s Heart Device Litigation Group, and has served as Chairman of AAJ’s Breast Cancer Litigation Group, Vice-Chairman of its Healthcare Finance Litigation Group, and Vice-Chairman and Science Committee Director of its Orthopedic Implant Litigation Group. He sits on the Board of Directors of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, where he has served as Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, and Treasurer; is Past President of NYSTLA’s Long Island affiliate; has served as Vice-Chairman of the Nassau County Bar Association’s Medical-Legal Committee; served on Law360’s Trials (2020) and Product Liability (2021) Editorial Advisory Boards; and is a founding board member of the Trial Lawyers of Puerto Rico. A sought-after speaker, he has addressed the Texas Tech MDL Judicial Summit and is an annual featured speaker at the Mass Torts Puerto Rico Conference. His recent engagements include “The Regulatory & Political Landscape” at HarrisMartin’s Environmental Litigation Conference: Fire, Water, Earth & Air (September 2026); “The Next Global Mass Torts: PFAS, Talc, Opioids, Social Media Addictions and Beyond” at the Perfect Law Global Class Actions and Mass Torts Conference at NYU School of Law (September 2026); the Perrin PFAS Litigation and Regulatory Developments Conference (February 2025 and March 2026); the Epiq Mass & Class Conference (April 2026); Mass Torts Made Perfect (October 2026); and the LF Dealmakers Forum (2024 and 2026). He is the author of “What the MultiPlan MDL Tells Us About Rebrands During Litigation” (2025), “Pricing Algorithms Help Insurers and Harm Patients” (2024), and “Divided They Fall: Concepcion’s Effect on Consumer and Employee Claims” (NYSTLA, 2012, with Richard J. Arsenault), and he hosts the firm’s On the Docket series.

• Experience

Mr. Shkolnik has led trial and discovery teams in some of the largest public-entity and environmental cases in the country. In the AFFF MDL he sits on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee that secured the class settlements resolving the claims of public water systems impacted by actual or threatened PFAS contamination: up to $12.5 billion from 3M, $1.185 billion from DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva, $750 million from Tyco Fire Products, and $316.5 million from BASF. As Co-Liaison and negotiating counsel in the Flint Water Crisis Litigation, he helped secure a $600 million settlement with the State of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the City of Flint, and former state and city officials. His public-entity work extends to the opioid litigation, where he serves on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee of MDL 2804 and Napoli Shkolnik’s county clients have obtained a $320 million settlement for bellwether plaintiff Cuyahoga County, Ohio; a ruling of more than $650 million against CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart for Lake and Trumbull Counties, Ohio; and, for Nassau County, New York, a jury verdict finding Teva and its affiliates liable for public nuisance and settlements of $1.1 billion with the three largest drug distributors and $50 million with Endo. He was also featured in Law360’s coverage of a 2026 ruling allowing a New York village to pursue PFAS claims against local companies. Having led public water system and municipal plaintiffs from the steering committee of the AFFF MDL through Flint and the opioid cases — and having helped shape how public-entity contamination claims are tried, settled, and allocated — Mr. Shkolnik is uniquely positioned to show public water systems and municipal plaintiffs how to sue under CERCLA for PFAS response costs.

Andrew W. Croner, Partner and Head of the Environmental Department | Napoli Shkolnik PLLC

Andrew W. Croner is a Partner at Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, where he heads the firm’s Environmental department and is a member of its Public Client Group. His practice is devoted to representing clients harmed by environmental contaminants — above all, public and private water suppliers that have been forced to incur investigation, remediation, and treatment costs because of contamination in their water systems. He currently represents hundreds of clients in litigation against the manufacturers of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), the fire suppression agent used for decades by the military, civilian airports, and fire departments that has contaminated drinking water systems across the country with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Mr. Croner has been part of the Napoli Shkolnik team in the AFFF multidistrict litigation that produced historic class settlements for public water systems, including the up-to-$12.5 billion settlement with 3M, the $1.185 billion settlement with DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva, the $750 million settlement with Tyco Fire Products, and the $316.5 million settlement with BASF.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Croner earned his J.D. with Honors from The George Washington University Law School, where he published two pieces in the George Washington Law Review (2009): a Note, “A Snake in the Grass: The Constitutionality of Applying Section 798 of the Espionage Act to the Press,” and an administrative law essay, “Morrison, Edmond, and the Power of Appointments.” He received his B.S. with Honors from Johns Hopkins University. He is admitted to practice in New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia and before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Croner has been named to Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers (2026). As head of Napoli Shkolnik’s Environmental department, he leads the firm’s representation of municipalities, utilities, and water authorities pursuing the costs of PFAS contamination, and his work on behalf of public water systems has been covered by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, Law360, Law.com, Legal Newsline, Engineering News-Record, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Public Radio, the Tampa Bay Times, and WCVB 5-ABC Boston. His work has also included the City of Baltimore’s landmark lawsuit against plastic manufacturers for their role in plastic pollution, announced by the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office in June 2024.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Croner is a frequent author and speaker on PFAS regulation and water-contamination litigation, with a particular focus on what water suppliers need to know. He wrote “Overview and Progress Report on EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap – What Water Suppliers Need to Know” for the National Rural Water Association’s Rural Water Magazine (March 2023) and “Firefighting Foam Litigation Will Proceed Following Failed Contractor Defense” (November 2022), which analyzed the defeat of the government contractor defense in the AFFF MDL. His recent speaking engagements include a panel on “Water Contamination: The MDLs Reshaping Mass Tort” at HarrisMartin’s Environmental Litigation Conference: Fire, Water, Earth & Air (September 2026); “Collective Redress and Sustainability” at the Perfect Law Global Class Actions and Mass Torts Conference (April 2025); “PFAS Settlement Briefing: Award for Your Utility,” a National Rural Water Association webinar training for utilities (September 2023); “Exclusive Insider Look: PFAS/AFFF Lawsuit Update with Lead Counsel” (November 2023); and two episodes of the Mass Tort News LegalCast, “Litigating Forever Chemicals PFAS & PFOS” and “PFAS in America Explained” (August 2023).

• Experience

Mr. Croner has built his career on the public water system plaintiff’s case. His work for utilities and municipalities nationwide has included PFAS contamination suits such as Tampa Bay Water’s suit against DuPont and 3M (2020), the City of La Crosse, Wisconsin’s suit against 23 companies for PFAS contamination (2021), the City of Wausau, Wisconsin’s suit against 3M and other manufacturers (2023), and the City of Westfield’s suit against the makers of so-called “forever chemicals” (2023), as well as a North Carolina utility’s PFAS suit that survived the defendants’ motion to dismiss (2024) and claims arising from DuPont’s alleged contamination of the Cape Fear River with PFAS. His involvement in the AFFF MDL dates back to its first settlement — a $17.5 million class settlement with Tyco Fire Products on behalf of more than 270 households in Peshtigo, Wisconsin — and runs through the subsequent class settlements with 3M, DuPont, Chemours, Corteva, Tyco, and BASF that resolved the claims of public water systems impacted by actual or threatened PFAS contamination. Having spent years building the damages, causation, and treatment-cost record for water providers — and guiding utilities through settlement allocation and EPA’s new PFAS drinking water standards — Mr. Croner is uniquely positioned to explain how public water systems and municipal plaintiffs can recover PFAS response costs under CERCLA.

Coral M. Odiot-Rivera, Partner, Environmental Litigation Department | Napoli Shkolnik (NSPR Law Services, LLC)

Coral M. Odiot-Rivera is a Partner in the Environmental Litigation Department of Napoli Shkolnik, based in the firm’s Puerto Rico office, and an experienced environmental and mass tort litigator whose practice centers on class actions and environmental justice cases. She plays a pivotal role in the landmark In re Aqueous FilmForming Foams Products Liability Litigation, the multidistrict litigation that has produced multi-billion-dollar settlements with corporate polluters including 3M, DuPont, Tyco, and BASF on behalf of the nation’s public water systems. Across the United States she leads high-impact litigation on behalf of individuals and communities exposed to PFAS, lead, microplastics, and other hazardous substances affecting air, soil, and water, and she helped file one of the first PFAS lawsuits in Europe — representing the Dutch Fishermen’s Association in groundbreaking litigation against 3M over PFAS contamination of the Western Scheldt River. A recognized authority on PFAS and microplastics, she is frequently invited to speak at national and international conferences, and she teaches Introduction to Mass Torts at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Ponce School of Law.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. Odiot-Rivera earned her J.D., cum laude, from Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Inter American University Law Review (Vol. XLVI), and her B.A. in Social Sciences with a major in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. She also studied as a visiting student at the London School of Economics and Political Science and completed an international law program at the Communication University of China in Beijing. She began her legal career as a judicial clerk to Justice Anabelle Rodríguez Rodríguez of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. She is admitted to practice in Puerto Rico (including as an approved notary), New York, and the District of Columbia; before the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana; and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

• Recognition & Leadership

Ms. Odiot-Rivera was named a Law360 Rising Star in Environmental Law for 2024 — one of only five honorees in the environmental category nationwide — and has been named to Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers and Lawdragon’s 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers (2026). She was selected for the American Association for Justice’s 2026–2027 Leadership Academy, received a scholarship from AAJ’s Class Action Section, and received the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award from Inter American University School of Law. She was featured on the cover of CIO Women Magazine and in Juris Doctor, the Inter American University alumni magazine, for her trailblazing work in environmental litigation. Earlier in her career she received scholarships from the National Conference of Regulatory Attorneys to study public utility regulation with Scott Hempling at Georgetown University Law Center, from the Council of State Governments’ Robert J. Thompson Leadership Academy at the University of Pennsylvania, and from the Puerto Rico Legislature for the Córdova and Fernós Legislative Internship, through which she interned in the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She is one of the leads of Napoli Shkolnik’s internship program, mentoring law students and young lawyers in high-stakes litigation.

• Professional Involvement

Ms. Odiot-Rivera chairs the American Association for Justice’s Microplastics / Single-Use Plastics Litigation Group and co-chairs AAJ’s Minority Caucus Membership Committee. She serves on the Board of the Trial Lawyers of Puerto Rico and is a member of the Federal Bar Association’s Hon. Raymond L. Acosta Puerto Rico Chapter, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and the Society of Women Trial Lawyers. Her publications include “Microplastics Litigation: What New York Counties Should Know” (NYSAC News Magazine, Summer 2026), “Breaking Down Microplastics Litigation” (Trial, December 2025), “Turning Isolation into Impact” (Trial, May 2026), “The Hidden Link Between Microplastics and PFAS — And Why Litigation May Be Our Strongest Tool” (Environmental Protection, August 2025), “What’s Next in the AFFF MDL?” (2023), and “Medical Monitoring as an Independent Cause of Action or as a Remedy for PFAS Exposure” (2023). Her recent speaking engagements include “AFFF MDL: Will Your PFAS Case End Up There?” at the Perrin Environmental Risk & PFAS Litigation Conference (June 2026); “PFAS – The Modern Asbestos?” at a joint conference of the Mass Torts and Product Liability and Women in Law sections (May 2026); “Environmental Litigation: Dirty Water and More” at Mass Torts Puerto Rico (2024, 2025, and 2026); “Microplastics 2.0” at the Perrin Environmental Risk and PFAS Litigation Conference (June 2025); “Global Litigation Strategies for PFAS Contamination” at the 2025 AAJ Winter Convention; the PEOPIL–AAJ Women Trial Lawyers Conference in Barcelona (May 2025); “Environmental Justice Litigation” at the Shades of Mass Conference (September 2024); AAJ’s International Practice Section CLE program “Litigation to Protect Our Environment” (July 2024); and the National Rural Water Association webinar “PFAS Settlement Briefing: Award for Your Utility” (September 2023).

• Experience

Before joining Napoli Shkolnik, Ms. Odiot-Rivera served as Legal and Legislative Advisor to the Puerto Rico Senate’s Committee on Civil Rights, Democratic Participation and Social Economy and as Legal Advisor to Puerto Rico’s Independent Consumer Protection Office, where she advocated for energy consumers before regulatory commissions and courts — experience that gives her an unusual command of how public utilities are regulated and how their costs are recovered. At Napoli Shkolnik she has worked on the AFFF MDL class settlements that resolved the claims of public water systems impacted by PFAS, including the up-to-$12.5 billion 3M settlement, the $1.185 billion DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva settlement, the $750 million Tyco settlement, and the $316.5 million BASF settlement. Her work on behalf of public entities has included the City of Baltimore’s landmark suit against plastic manufacturers (2024), and she has been featured in news coverage of the Buffalo Water Board’s lawsuit (2026) and of class certification in lead exposure litigation against DuPont (Law360, September 2026). She also supported Milberg Amsterdam in filing the Dutch Fishermen’s Union’s complaint against 3M for PFAS contamination of the Western Scheldt (2025). Combining a utility-regulation background with front-line experience in the AFFF MDL and municipal contamination suits, Ms. Odiot-Rivera is uniquely positioned to guide public water systems and municipal plaintiffs through suing under CERCLA for PFAS response costs.

SESSION 1 – Suing Under CERCLA for PFAS Response Costs: The Public Water System and Municipal Plaintiff’s Case | Andrew W. Croner, Coral M. Odiot-Rivera & Hunter J. Shkolnik | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session walks public water system and municipal attorneys through the mechanics of pleading a CERCLA Section 107(a) cost-recovery claim for PFOA and PFOS response costs following EPA’s landmark 2024 hazardous substance designation. Attendees will learn how to satisfy each prima facie element — facility, release, hazardous substance, causation, and necessary response costs — with PFAS-specific pleading strategies drawn from recent case law and regulatory developments. Attorneys will leave with a working command of how to structure the complaint, document recoverable cost categories, plead NCP consistency, and anticipate the defenses most likely to succeed at the motion-to-dismiss stage.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Choosing Defendants and Managing Parallel Claims in a PFAS Cost-Recovery Suit | Andrew W. Croner, Coral M. Odiot-Rivera & Hunter J. Shkolnik | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session equips municipal water system and public entity counsel to identify and evaluate the full universe of CERCLA § 107(a) potentially responsible parties in a PFAS cost-recovery action — manufacturers, arrangers, federal facilities, and industrial users — and to navigate the strategic decisions that arise when CERCLA claims run alongside state tort, state mini-CERCLA, and contribution proceedings. Attorneys will learn how MDL settlement releases constrain the remaining defendant pool, how the § 107 versus § 113(f) election affects recovery ceilings, and how the passive-receiver problem creates both counterclaim exposure and potential protections for municipal plaintiffs. By the end of this session, attending counsel will be able to structure a multi-claim PFAS litigation strategy that maximizes recovery while managing contribution risk.