The Alabama Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to the Gadsden water utility’s PFAS lawsuit Friday, dismissing the utility’s claims against DuPont, one of the largest chemical companies in the world, as well as others.

However, the court did not dismiss the suit against several other defendants.

In 2023, the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Gadsden filed a lawsuit against numerous companies, including DuPont de Nemours, Inc., and several affiliated entities; chemical manufacturer Daikin America; and several waste management companies.

The suit alleges that the companies contaminated the utility’s drinking water source, the Coosa River, with chemicals known as PFAS: per- and polyfluroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals.”

PFAS are used in a wide variety of everyday items, like nonstick pans, waterproof fabrics, and electronics. But they’ve gained notoriety in recent years because of how long they persist in the environment; studies have shown that exposure to even small amounts of PFAS can have negative health effects, including increased risk of cancer and reproductive issues.

The suit alleges that the drinking water source for the city of Gadsden was contaminated with PFAS from the carpet manufacturing industry in Dalton, Ga. According to the suit, industrial carpet manufacturers in Dalton, where more than 90% of the world’s carpet is produced, discharged wastewater contaminated with PFAS. Those chemicals then allegedly made their way into the Coosa River.

Attorneys for the Gadsden water board and for the defendants did not respond to requests for comment.

After Etowah County Circuit Court Judge William Ogletree denied the defendants’ motions to have claims against them dismissed, the DuPont defendants, Daikin America, and defendant INV Performance Surfaces appealed to the supreme court. “The landfill defendants,” as they are referred to in court filings, joined DuPont and Daikin’s petition.

While the supreme court declined to grant the landfill companies’ petition, it agreed to dismiss the claims against DuPont, Daikin America, and INV by a vote of 8-0. Supreme Court Justice Greg Cook recused himself.

In his opinion, Associate Justice Brady Mendheim agreed that the Gadsden water board’s claims against Daikin and DuPont are precluded by the statute of limitations. The Etowah County Circuit Court does not have jurisdiction over INV Performance Surfaces, the court ruled, as the company does not have ties to Alabama.

This isn’t the first lawsuit the Gadsden water board has filed related to PFAS from the nearby (but across state lines) carpet industry. In 2016, the utility sued 3M and more than 30 other companies, including some Dalton carpet manufacturers, alleging PFAS contamination that its water treatment plant was unable to handle.

That case was settled and dismissed in 2022, and at the time, the utility said it would build a new, $80 million water treatment plant using the settlement funds, according to Mendheim’s opinion.

Since the utility had already sued over PFAS contamination from the carpet industry, Mendheim agreed with DuPont and Daikin that the harm to the utility began in 2016, seven years before the utility’s current suit was filed and outside of the statute of limitations for this case.

“Thus, in 2016, the amount of PFAS in Gadsden Water’s raw-water intake already had exceeded the EPA’s 2016 [Lifetime Health Advisory] limit. In other words, harm to the water source initially occurred in 2016,” Mendheim states in his opinion. “The fact that in 2022 the EPA lowered its acceptable threshold of PFAS in drinking water did not create a new injury to Gadsden Water that restarted the applicable limitations periods.”

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed related to PFAS contamination in public water systems all over the country. Many of those cases were consolidated into a multi-district litigation (MDL) and centralized in South Carolina.

The Gadsden water suit was briefly stayed until U.S. District Judge in the District of South Carolina Richard Gergel approved a more than $14 billion settlement of the multi-district litigation in February of 2024, according to a news release from Beasley Allen, the law firm representing the utility.

Gadsden opted out of that settlement, according to the news release.

The case will now be sent back to circuit court.