AFFF Firefighting Foam

What the lawsuit is about

The AFFF firefighting foam lawsuit alleges that PFAS “forever chemicals” in aqueous film-forming foam caused cancers and other diseases in firefighters, military personnel, airport and industrial workers, and people near contaminated water. Federal personal-injury cases are consolidated in MDL-2873 before Judge Richard M. Gergel in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Multibillion-dollar settlements with 3M, DuPont/Chemours/Corteva, Tyco, and BASF compensate public water systems — not individuals — so personal-injury claims remain separate and ongoing, and defendants dispute them.

As of July 1, 2026, AFFF/PFAS litigation remains one of the largest active mass torts, with 15,244 actions pending in MDL No. 2873. Public water-system settlements have been finalized, but individual personal-injury claims remain separate and no personal-injury settlement has been announced.

AFFF lawsuits allege that PFAS-containing firefighting foam exposed firefighters, military personnel, airport workers, industrial workers, and nearby communities to chemicals linked in claims to serious disease. Claim review usually focuses on exposure source, diagnosis records, water or worksite documentation, and state deadlines. Defendants dispute exposure, causation, warnings, liability, and damages.

What is the latest MDL 2873 settlement update?

MDL No. 2873 includes both public water-system contamination claims and individual personal-injury claims, and those tracks should not be treated as the same settlement. The public water-system settlements are large and documented, but they resolve utility contamination claims rather than firefighter, military, airport, industrial, or resident injury claims.

The official claims administrator says the current settlements with 3M, DuPont-related companies, Tyco/Chemguard, and BASF have final approval and are designed for eligible public water systems. For individual AFFF personal-injury claims, the practical July 2026 update is that the official MDL and settlement-administration pages do not announce a global personal-injury settlement. Claim review still turns on exposure documentation, disease category, diagnosis timing, medical proof, and applicable state law.

AFFF Firefighting Foam Lawsuit Update: July 2026

The personal-injury track of AFFF/PFAS MDL No. 2873 before Judge Richard Gergel in the District of South Carolina is currently without a trial date. Case Management Order No. 35, entered August 15, 2025, vacated the previously scheduled October 2025 kidney-cancer bellwether trial, and no replacement personal-injury trial date has been set. As of July 1, 2026, 15,244 actions are pending in the MDL.

Separately, several water-system contamination settlements have final approval and remain in claims administration: 3M ($10.5-$12.5 billion), DuPont/Chemours/Corteva ($1.185 billion), Tyco ($750 million), and BASF ($316.5 million). These settlements compensate eligible public water systems for defined contamination claims. They do not constitute a global settlement for individual personal-injury claimants.

Anyone researching AFFF claims should clearly distinguish between the court-approved water-utility settlements and the separately managed individual injury litigation. Case Management Order No. 35 vacated the October 20, 2025 bellwether trial and identified six personal-injury categories being pursued in the MDL: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, liver cancer, and thyroid cancer. Case Management Order No. 26N sets a July 20, 2026 deadline for Group B bellwether selections and expert-discovery proposals involving thyroid-disease and ulcerative-colitis plaintiffs; it does not set a new trial date.

Case Status Snapshot

• Status: Active / Investigating
• Primary injury: PFAS exposure-related cancer and disease claims
• Main product/exposure: AFFF firefighting foam containing PFAS, including exposure through firefighting, military, airport, industrial, or water-contamination settings
• MDL or court context: MDL No. 2873, District of South Carolina
• Settlement status: Public water system settlements do not automatically resolve personal injury claims; individual injury settlement posture remains claim-specific
• Key deadline: Varies by state, exposure site, diagnosis date, discovery facts, and claim type
• State law relevance: State law may affect deadlines, damages, wrongful death claims, environmental exposure issues, and proof rules

AFFF lawsuit overview

The AFFF lawsuit involves allegations that aqueous film-forming foam used for flammable liquid fires contained PFAS chemicals and that exposure contributed to certain cancers or diseases. AFFF was commonly associated with firefighting, airport rescue operations, military bases, training facilities, refineries, industrial fire suppression, and other settings where fuel or chemical fires were a concern.

These cases can involve different claim types. Public water system claims may focus on contamination cleanup, treatment costs, or water-provider issues. Individual personal injury claims focus on whether a person had relevant AFFF or PFAS exposure and later developed a diagnosis being evaluated in the litigation. Those categories can overlap factually, but they are not the same legal claim.

For individual injury research, the central question is usually not just whether PFAS existed somewhere nearby. Claim review may ask whether the person's exposure can be tied to AFFF use, contaminated water connected to AFFF sites, or another legally relevant PFAS source, and whether the diagnosis and timing fit the case being reviewed.

Who may qualify for an AFFF lawsuit?

There is no automatic qualification rule for an AFFF lawsuit. Possible claim review may involve people with documented exposure to AFFF firefighting foam or PFAS contamination connected to AFFF use who later developed a disease category being evaluated in the litigation. Eligibility depends on individual exposure history, diagnosis, timing, records, state law, and the current litigation posture.

• Occupational exposure: Firefighters, airport rescue workers, military personnel, industrial safety workers, refinery workers, foam-system maintenance workers, and people involved in training or emergency response.
• Environmental exposure: Residents near military bases, airports, fire training centers, industrial facilities, or other sites where PFAS contamination from AFFF may have affected drinking water.
• Diagnosis records: Medical documentation of kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, or another diagnosis being reviewed in PFAS-related AFFF claims.
• Exposure documentation: Fire department records, military records, training history, water testing, address history, employment records, incident reports, or witness information.
• Deadline review: State filing deadlines, discovery facts, diagnosis date, exposure site, and prior settlement or release issues may affect whether a claim can be pursued.

Because PFAS exposure can come from many sources, AFFF claim review often requires more detail than a general PFAS blood test or a general belief of exposure. The more specific the exposure source, dates, and diagnosis records are, the easier the claim may be to evaluate.

Litigation Updates and Timeline

• 2018: Federal AFFF cases were centralized in MDL No. 2873 in the District of South Carolina for coordinated pretrial proceedings.
• 2023-2024: Public water system settlement activity became a major part of the broader AFFF/PFAS litigation, while personal injury claims continued on separate tracks.
• 2025: Court management continued to address claim categories, expert issues, discovery, and the organization of personal injury claims.
• Early 2026: Public status updates continued to focus on expert and case-management issues for disease categories and exposure pathways.
• May 2026: The practical focus for potential personal injury claims remains exposure reconstruction, disease diagnosis, medical proof, and state-law deadlines.

AFFF lawsuit settlement status

AFFF settlement status should be read carefully because different parts of the litigation move on different tracks. The official claims administrator identifies four finally approved settlements designed to resolve defined PFAS drinking-water claims for eligible public water systems. Those settlements do not decide whether an individual firefighter, service member, airport worker, industrial worker, or resident has a personal-injury claim.

Personal injury claims may depend on disease category, exposure pathway, diagnosis records, expert rulings, bellwether planning, state law, and whether the person can connect exposure to AFFF or a relevant PFAS-contaminated site. Settlement discussions or public settlement reports do not mean every personal injury claim is resolved or that any individual outcome is guaranteed.

As of July 19, 2026, the official MDL and settlement-administration pages do not announce a global personal-injury settlement or an individual payout schedule. This site does not provide settlement calculators, estimated payouts, or claim-value rankings. Personal-injury settlement posture can change as court rulings, disease-category review, and claim-specific evidence develop.

Current litigation status

AFFF Firefighting Foam claims are active and have been coordinated for years in federal multidistrict litigation involving PFAS-containing firefighting foam. The AFFF MDL, MDL No. 2873, is in the District of South Carolina and includes personal injury, water contamination, and other PFAS-related claims connected to aqueous film-forming foam.

The personal injury side of the litigation focuses on allegations that exposure to PFAS chemicals in AFFF contributed to cancers and other diseases, including kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, and ulcerative colitis. Defendants generally dispute exposure, causation, warnings, liability, and damages. Litigation status can change, and this guide is a general overview rather than a live court docket.

Key issues in the lawsuit

AFFF lawsuits generally allege that firefighting foam contained PFAS chemicals, including compounds such as PFOA and PFOS, and that repeated use or environmental release of the foam exposed firefighters, military personnel, airport workers, industrial workers, and nearby communities to harmful substances. Claims may involve direct occupational exposure, training exercises, emergency fire response, contaminated gear, contaminated soil, or drinking water contamination near sites where AFFF was used.

The key issues include whether a person had meaningful PFAS exposure, whether the exposure can be connected to AFFF rather than another source, whether the diagnosed condition is one being reviewed in the litigation, and whether warnings or safety information were adequate. In some cases, a claim may involve both occupational exposure and environmental contamination. In others, the exposure pathway may be less direct and require more investigation.

Because PFAS exposure can come from many sources, these cases often require careful exposure reconstruction. Plaintiffs may need to show where they worked, trained, lived, or drank water, what type of foam was used, how often exposure occurred, and how the disease timeline fits the alleged exposure.

How claims may be evaluated

AFFF claim review usually begins with exposure history. Fire department records, airport employment records, military service records, training logs, incident reports, foam purchase records, facility records, job descriptions, witness statements, and water testing records may help identify potential exposure. For military or airport-related exposure, location and dates can be especially important.

Medical records are also central. Diagnosis records, pathology reports, oncology records, specialist notes, lab results, surgery records, and treatment records can help confirm the disease, diagnosis date, stage, treatment course, and damages. A lawyer may also ask about smoking history, family history, occupational exposures, kidney function history, thyroid history, autoimmune conditions, and other medical factors.

Causation review may compare the type and duration of PFAS exposure with the diagnosed condition and known alternative causes. Some claims may be stronger when there is repeated occupational contact with AFFF or documented contamination at a specific site. Others may require additional investigation to connect exposure to a legally relevant source.

Common fact patterns

One common fact pattern may involve a firefighter who trained with or used AFFF during flammable liquid fire drills, aircraft rescue operations, refinery incidents, fuel fires, or equipment testing and later developed kidney cancer or testicular cancer. Another may involve a military service member stationed at a base where AFFF was used regularly and later diagnosed with a PFAS-related condition.

Airport workers, industrial safety workers, and people involved in fire suppression training may also have relevant histories. Some claims may involve residents near a base, airport, training center, or industrial site where PFAS contamination affected drinking water. Those claims may require water district records, public notices, environmental testing, or address history to evaluate.

Useful details can include the facility name, years of work or residence, whether foam was handled directly, whether protective equipment was used, whether water contamination was documented, and when the medical condition was first diagnosed.

AFFF and PFAS exposure pathways

AFFF exposure can be direct or indirect. Direct exposure may involve handling foam concentrate, applying foam during training or emergency response, cleaning equipment, maintaining foam systems, wearing contaminated gear, or working in areas where foam was discharged. Indirect exposure may involve drinking water contamination near airports, military bases, fire training areas, industrial facilities, or other sites where AFFF entered soil or groundwater.

For firefighters, important details may include fire academy training, airport rescue work, fuel-fire exercises, refinery or chemical fire response, foam-system testing, and whether the department used older PFAS-containing foam. For military personnel, base location and dates of service can matter. For residents, address history, water provider information, public notices, and environmental testing may be important.

PFAS exposure can also come from non-AFFF sources, so an AFFF claim may require careful separation of possible exposure pathways. Records that tie the exposure to a specific site, training facility, employer, base, airport, or water system can be especially useful.

PFAS and AFFF records commonly reviewed

Records can help connect a person's exposure history to AFFF or PFAS contamination. Not every person will have every record, but the following categories may help organize a claim review:

• Firefighting records: Department rosters, training records, incident reports, academy records, foam-use logs, apparatus records, and safety data sheets.
• Military or airport records: Service records, base assignments, job duties, crash rescue records, airport employment records, training facility records, and unit histories.
• Environmental records: Water testing results, public notices, environmental agency reports, water provider information, address history, and contamination maps.
• Medical records: Diagnosis records, pathology reports, oncology records, specialist notes, surgery records, treatment records, lab results, and death certificates where applicable.
• Witness and timeline records: Co-worker statements, supervisor names, photographs, calendars, employment dates, training dates, and documents showing where exposure may have occurred.

What can make a claim harder to evaluate

AFFF claims can be harder to evaluate when the exposure source is unclear. PFAS chemicals are found in many products and environments, so a claim may need more than a general belief that PFAS exposure occurred. Missing employment records, uncertain training history, unknown foam type, or no documented contamination can make exposure harder to prove.

Medical and timing issues can also complicate review. A diagnosis that is not currently being reviewed in the litigation, a very limited exposure history, a long gap with unclear records, or strong alternative risk factors may require closer analysis. These facts do not automatically rule out a claim, but they can affect how a lawyer evaluates it.

Prior settlements, releases, workers' compensation issues, military records, government contractor defenses, bankruptcy issues, or filing deadlines may also affect legal options. These questions are fact-specific and may vary by state.

Why state law may still matter

Even when AFFF claims are coordinated in a federal MDL, state law may still matter for individual cases. A person's residence, exposure site, work location, diagnosis location, and defendant contacts can affect which state's law applies. State law may influence deadlines, discovery rules, damages, wrongful death claims, and proof requirements.

Environmental exposure cases can also raise state-specific issues involving water districts, public notices, property records, occupational claims, or local contamination history. A national MDL can coordinate common issues, but individual claims still depend on the person's facts and applicable law.

AFFF lawsuit deadline considerations

AFFF lawsuit deadlines vary by state and by claim type. Personal injury deadline review may consider diagnosis date, exposure site, discovery facts, residence history, employment history, wrongful death issues, and whether the person previously signed a release or participated in another process. Environmental contamination claims may involve different timing questions than individual cancer or disease claims.

People researching an AFFF deadline should gather first and last known exposure dates, diagnosis date, address history, employment or service dates, water provider information, and any public notice or testing documents they received. Those facts can help an attorney evaluate whether a statute of limitations, discovery rule, or other timing issue may apply.

This guide does not provide legal advice or state-specific deadline calculations. State guide pages provide local context, but deadlines require individualized review.

Questions to ask before contacting a lawyer

• Where and when was I exposed to AFFF or PFAS-contaminated water?
• Was the exposure tied to firefighting, military service, airport work, industrial work, or a contaminated site?
• Do I have employment, service, training, incident, or water testing records?
• What condition was diagnosed, and when was it first confirmed?
• Are there other possible PFAS or chemical exposure sources in my history?
• Which state deadline rules may apply to my exposure and diagnosis timeline?

Sources and status notes

• Federal court context: AFFF firefighting foam / PFAS claims have been coordinated in federal multidistrict litigation involving PFAS-containing firefighting foam. The District of South Carolina maintains public information for MDL No. 2873.
• Water-system settlements: The court-supervised PFAS Water Settlement website identifies the four current public-water-system settlements, their final-approval status, and claims-administration deadlines.
• Personal-injury management: The court's Case Management Order No. 35 vacated the October 2025 bellwether trial and set filing and proof requirements for six listed personal-injury categories.
• Group B schedule: Case Management Order No. 26N sets the July 20, 2026 selection and expert-discovery proposal deadline for thyroid-disease and ulcerative-colitis bellwether cases.
• Agency or medical context: PFAS health and environmental context may involve EPA, CDC, ATSDR, state environmental agencies, and water-testing information. Public background is available from the EPA PFAS information page and ATSDR PFAS and Your Health.
• Litigation status: This guide summarizes public litigation status information and should not be treated as a live court docket. AFFF claims may involve firefighters, military personnel, airport workers, industrial workers, or residents near contaminated sites.
• Review note: Case status, settlement posture, deadlines, and eligibility factors can change.
• Last reviewed: July 19, 2026.

Who may be affected

• People with documented use of or exposure to Aqueous film-forming firefighting foam and PFAS chemicals.
• People later diagnosed with kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, or another condition being reviewed in PFAS-related AFFF claims.
• People who can identify approximate dates, locations, providers, employers, or exposure circumstances.
• Families evaluating possible wrongful death issues should ask a lawyer how state law may apply.

What injuries does the AFFF Firefighting Foam lawsuit involve?

• Kidney cancer
• Testicular cancer
• Thyroid disease
• Ulcerative colitis
• PFAS exposure-related claims

What evidence is needed for AFFF Firefighting Foam claims?

• Employment records
• Firefighting or military service records
• Training site history
• Water testing records
• Medical diagnosis records
• Pathology reports

How has the AFFF Firefighting Foam lawsuit progressed?

What is the AFFF Firefighting Foam settlement status?

AFFF litigation is mature in some respects, especially for public water system contamination settlements, but personal injury claims remain separate and fact-specific. A water-provider settlement does not automatically resolve an individual cancer or disease claim. For people researching AFFF settlement status, the important distinction is whether the claim involves a public water system, a government or property claim, or an individual personal injury claim. Personal injury settlement posture may depend on expert rulings, exposure category, disease category, proof of AFFF exposure, medical diagnosis, and state-law issues. No personal injury settlement, claim value, or outcome is guaranteed.

What are the AFFF Firefighting Foam lawsuit filing deadlines?

Deadlines vary by state and may depend on diagnosis date, discovery date, exposure history, wrongful death issues, and other facts. A lawyer can evaluate how the relevant deadline rules may apply.

State-by-state guide links