According to the lawsuit, Akhtar Khan developed liver cancer after years of drinking PFAS-contaminated water from Sacramento, California, and other communities. This water, Khan said, was heavily contaminated with the defendants’ PFAS chemicals due to the heavy use of firefighting foam at nearby military bases and airports.

Although Khan was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2016, the lawsuit says neither he nor his doctors were ever informed of the severe PFAS contamination of the city’s water supply, nor were they told that these chemicals could cause cancer.

Khan has undergone extensive medical treatment to battle liver cancer, including chemotherapy and a liver transplant, but the lawsuit says he remains concerned about his future health due to contamination from firefighting foam water.

“To this day, defendants’ fluorochemicals remain in plaintiff’s body, exposing him to ongoing exposure to PFAS chemicals and a further increased risk of recurrence of the disease and cancer,” the lawsuit states.

Khan asserts claims for defective construction, failure to warn, negligence, gross negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, negligence per se, prior and continuing trespass and assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress, and his wife asserts claims for loss of marital community. They seek both compensatory and punitive damages.

Update on the PFAS lawsuit from August 2024

The Khans’ lawsuit will be consolidated with all other firefighting foam water contamination lawsuits currently being tried centrally before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Gergel in the District of South Carolina to allow for coordinated discovery, pretrial proceedings and a series of landmark trials.

Last year, Judge Gergel established what he calls a bellwether procedure, in which case-specific discovery and pretrial motions are made for a small group of claims in preparation for a series of early AFFF court dates expected to begin in 2025. These dates are designed to gauge the likely reaction of jurors to specific evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.

While the outcome of these early landmark trials will not have a binding impact on other lawsuits, it is expected that the amount of damages awarded by juries in an AFFF trial could impact future settlement negotiations to resolve the litigation in firefighter cancer cases.

In June 2023, 3M Company agreed to pay over $12.5 billion to settle local water utility claims as part of a settlement in an AFFF water contamination case. However, there are no reports of settlements in AFFF damages lawsuits, and none of these individual claims have yet gone before a jury.