Submitted
The Salina City Commissioners will hold a special meeting today, Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. in the City-County Building, Room 107 to consider Resolution No. 23-8176 authorizing the City of Salina to opt out of the settlement class in both the Dupont and 3M Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Product Liability Litigation cases and authorizing the Vice-Mayor, City staff, and legal counsel to sign and deliver any documentation necessary to complete the prescribed opt out process.
Salina City Attorney Greg Bengston and Salina lawyer Aaron Martin will present to commissioners.
City Manager Mike Schrage and Assistant City Manager Henessee are currently out of town for a conference.
The City of Salina has been included in the settlement class in the following two cases in the United States District Court, District of South Carolina, Charleston Division, involving Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2:18-mn-02873:
City of Camden, et al., V. E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company, et al., No. 2:23-cv-03230-RMG
City of Camden, et al., v. 3M Company, No. 2:23-cv-03147-RMG
The settlement classes include all water systems in the United States that as of June 30, 2023, are subject to the monitoring rules set forth in the U.S. EPA's Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule ("UCMR 5") which are those "large" systems serving more than 10,000 people and "small" systems serving between 3,300 and 10,000 people.
The settlement amount to be paid by the Dupont defendants under the proposed Dupont Settlement Agreement is $1, 185,000,000. The settlement amount to be paid by 3M under the 3M Settlement Agreement is 12,500,000,000. The City of Salina is listed as a Phase One Settlement Class Member. In order to assert a claim against the settlement amount, Phase 1 Class Members must file a claim along with substantiating test results within 60 days of the effective date of the Settlement Agreement (5 days after the date of final judgment). Members of class are subject to the terms of the Settlement Agreement regardless of whether they submit a claim or not.
Members of the settlement class have the option of opting out the settlement class by serving a written and signed statement entitled "Request for Exclusion" on the Notice Administrator, the Special Master, the Claims Administrator and related parties. The written request must be sent by certified mail and received by the Claims Administrator in the Dupont case by December 4, 2023. The deadline in the 3M case is December 11, 2023.