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Board signs engagement to join PFAS class-action outreach; no fee unless recovery
Summary
La Porte approved retaining Ice Miller to pursue potential recovery from national PFAS settlements; the city will not incur fees or expenses unless money is recovered on its behalf.
The La Porte City Board of Public Works on April 22 authorized an engagement letter with the law firm Ice Miller to participate in PFAS-related litigation and potential recovery efforts at no upfront cost to the city.
City Attorney Nick Otis explained the proposed engagement, saying Ice Miller has prior experience representing the city on insurance collection work and that the firm would not charge fees or expenses unless recoveries are obtained on the city’s behalf. Otis said the area of law is specialized and that the city’s financial exposure is limited because costs are contingent on successful collections.
Water Superintendent Tim Warner summarized testing the city undertook: La Porte volunteered PFAS sampling from its wells and detected minimal traces in two newer wells (reported in the transcript as very low parts-per-trillion levels). Warner said current measured concentrations were very small and that the city has been monitoring through its wellhead protection program. He described ongoing interdepartmental coordination (wastewater, MS4, stormwater) to limit PFAS entry to well fields.
The board moved and approved the engagement letter by voice vote. Staff emphasized that engagement puts the city “on the list” for any potential distributions from national settlements with manufacturers such as 3M and DuPont, and that any recovery could help fund future treatment upgrades such as activated-carbon filtration.
City staff said the state has not finalized regulatory limits and that the city is pushing back on including the voluntary test results in the annual Consumer Confidence Report until state parameters are formalized.
