BASF Pays $316.5 Million to Settle U.S. Public Water Systems' PFAS Firefighting Foam Class Action

In May 2024, BASF Corporation reached a class settlement with the nation's public water systems in the federal litigation over aqueous film-forming foam, the firefighting agent used for decades at military bases, airports and industrial sites. The foam contained PFAS, the long-lasting chemicals often called forever chemicals, and the lead case was City of Camden v. BASF, No. 2:24-cv-03174-RMG, part of the multidistrict litigation overseen by Judge Richard Gergel in Charleston, South Carolina.

The plaintiffs were water utilities, not individuals claiming personal illness. The class representatives alleged that PFAS had reached drinking water sources and that their systems faced the cost of monitoring and treating it. BASF denied the allegations and any liability. The settlement class covered every active public water system in the country with one or more impacted water sources as of May 15, 2024, with exclusions such as private household wells, very small non-community systems, and systems owned by state or federal governments that cannot sue on their own.

BASF agreed to pay $312.5 million into a settlement fund, plus a separate $4 million to cover the cost of notifying class members, for a total of $316.5 million. Fees, costs and incentive awards for class counsel were to come out of the fund, not on top of it. A court-appointed special master and claims administrator were assigned to divide the money. The allocation formulas weigh the volume of impacted water and the degree of contamination, the main drivers of what it costs to treat PFAS, and any money left after claims are processed goes to qualifying members pro rata rather than back to BASF.

The court named four firms as class counsel in the court-approved notice: Baron & Budd, Douglas & London, Motley Rice, and Napoli Shkolnik, which was represented by Paul J. Napoli. Trade coverage of the deal also listed Napoli among the plaintiffs' lawyers. After a mediator-assisted negotiation, the parties asked the court for approval, and a fairness hearing was set for Nov. 1, 2024.

Judge Gergel granted final approval on Nov. 22, 2024, the same day he approved a separate settlement with Tyco Fire Products, and on Jan. 7, 2025, he confirmed that the approval order was a final judgment in the case. In February 2025 the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico asked for leave to intervene and amend the approval orders, then withdrew that motion in May 2025. BASF's payment schedule called for the $4 million in July 2024 and the $312.5 million on March 1, 2025. Water systems that had already submitted data in earlier settlements in the litigation did not need to resubmit it. Other defendants in the foam litigation were not part of the BASF deal, so the class members can still pursue them separately.