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— PFAS & AFFF · cancer and exposure claims

PFAS Lawsuit: Were You Exposed to Forever Chemicals?

Maybe it was the foam. Drill after drill, boots soaked, the training pit white with it. Or maybe you never touched it — you just lived down the road from the base and drank the water for twenty years. Either way, nobody told you those chemicals never leave. Not the ground, not the water, and not your body.
Updated July 31, 2026

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— Eligibility

Who May Qualify for a PFAS or AFFF Lawsuit

There are two main routes into this litigation: exposure through work, and exposure through water. You may qualify under either.
You used AFFF firefighting foam
Military and civilian firefighters, airport and aviation crews, refinery and industrial workers, and fire academy instructors and trainees.
You drank contaminated water
Homes near military bases, airports, fire training grounds and chemical plants. You never had to touch the foam. Private wells count too.
You served in the military
Foam was used heavily on bases and aboard ships, and base drinking water was affected at hundreds of sites. Service members and their families both qualify.
You were diagnosed with one of six conditions
Kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid cancer, liver cancer, thyroid disease including hypothyroidism, or ulcerative colitis.
You can show where and when
Service records, employment history, a base or station name, or an address on a water system that tested positive.
You were exposed but are not sick yet
Some states allow medical monitoring claims that fund ongoing health screening for people with documented exposure and no diagnosis. Worth asking about.

Meeting these guidelines does not mean you have a valid claim. It means a participating law firm is likely to review it. That firm decides on its own whether to take your case. Some claims are turned down, and some recover nothing. Direct2Attorney cannot judge the legal merits of your case, give legal advice, or file anything for you.

Not sure your exposure was “enough”?

Most people underestimate it. Twenty years of tap water beside a base can matter as much as handling the foam. A free review sorts it out in about two minutes.

— Educational

What You Need to Know About PFAS

PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They are a family of thousands of man-made chemicals built around a carbon-fluorine bond — one of the strongest bonds in chemistry. That strength is the whole problem. These chemicals do not break down. Not in soil, not in water, and not in people. That is why they are called forever chemicals.

AFFF is one source, not the only one. Aqueous film-forming foam smothers fuel fires and was standard at military bases, airports, refineries and fire training grounds from the 1960s onward. It is loaded with PFAS. When it soaked into the ground it reached the groundwater and turned up decades later in the tap water of houses miles away.

PFAS also came from chemical plants that made or used these compounds, discharging them into rivers and air. Communities downstream have been drinking them for decades.

Once PFAS enters a person it stays for years and builds up with each new exposure. In 2024 the EPA set the first enforceable national limits for PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion — the strictest drinking water standard the agency has ever issued.

Two ways people were exposed

Through the job

Direct, repeated contact — especially during training drills, where foam was discharged again and again with little protection.

  • Military firefighters and Navy fire crews
  • Civilian and municipal firefighters
  • Airport and aviation rescue crews
  • Refinery, chemical plant and industrial workers
  • Fire academy instructors and trainees

Through the water

The larger group by far. Farmers, teachers, retirees, children who grew up in an affected town — ordinary people who simply drank what came out of the tap.

  • Families on or near military bases
  • Neighborhoods around airports and training sites
  • Private well owners downstream of contamination
  • Towns downstream of chemical plants
  • Anyone on a system that tested above EPA limits

The six conditions the court has prioritized

ConditionStrengthWhat to Know
Kidney cancerStrongest The injury chosen for the first personal injury trial. Best-supported claim in the litigation.
Testicular cancerStrongestResearch on service members has found a significant link with PFAS exposure.
Thyroid cancerRecognizedIncluded in the court’s narrowed list; expert challenges have been briefed.
Liver cancerRecognizedAdded after the court held dedicated sessions on the science.
Thyroid diseaseRecognized Includes hypothyroidism. Non-cancer, but accepted in the trial pool.
Ulcerative colitisrRecognized The one digestive condition on the list, supported by earlier PFAS health studies.
The court narrowed the litigation from more than 200 claimed injuries to these six to focus on the conditions with the strongest scientific support. Other diagnoses may still be reviewed but are harder to pursue. Company and product names elsewhere on this page are used only to identify the parties and products at issue.

Where the cases stand

The billions you have read about did not go to people
3M agreed to pay roughly $10.3 to $12.5 billion. DuPont, Chemours and Corteva agreed to about $1.185 billion. Those settlements resolved claims brought by public water systems and municipalities — money to treat contaminated supplies. None of it went to individuals with cancer. If you saw those headlines and wondered why nobody contacted you, that is why.
Personal injury claims are a separate track, and they are moving
Individual claims are consolidated as MDL 2873 before Judge Richard Gergel in the District of South Carolina, with 15,244 cases pending as of July 2026. The court has confirmed that AFFF foam claims, contaminated drinking water claims and gear-related claims tied to foam exposure all proceed together in this litigation. A kidney cancer case arising from contaminated drinking water has been targeted as the first personal injury trial, and the judge has been pressing both sides toward settlement ahead of it. No global settlement for injury claims exists yet.
One distinction that matters if you are a firefighter
PFAS is also in firefighter turnout gear. The federal panel has twice declined to bring turnout-gear-only claims into MDL 2873, most recently in December 2025. If you were exposed to both foam and gear, your case can go into the MDL. If gear was your only exposure, your claim proceeds on a separate track outside it. Neither is a dead end — but they are different processes, and knowing which one fits your history matters.

⚠️ This page is general information, not medical advice

Kidney and testicular cancers are often found late because early signs are easy to dismiss — blood in urine, a dull ache in the side or lower back, a lump or heaviness, unexplained weight loss or lasting fatigue. If you worked around AFFF or drank water near a contaminated site and any of that sounds familiar, see a doctor and tell them about the exposure. Do not start, stop or change any treatment based on what you read here.

— Compensation

What Compensation May Cover

If a claim succeeds, compensation is meant to cover what the illness has cost you — in money, in work, and in life. Here is what these claims typically seek.

Financial losses

  • Past and future medical bills
  • Surgery, chemotherapy and immunotherapy
  • Dialysis or transplant costs, where needed
  • Wages lost while you were too sick to work
  • Reduced ability to earn a living
  • Ongoing health screening, in monitoring claims
  • Funeral and burial costs, in wrongful death claims

Personal losses

  • Pain and physical suffering
  • Emotional distress and mental anguish
  • Loss of enjoyment of everyday life
  • Loss of companionship for a spouse or family
  • Permanent disability or loss of an organ
  • Loss of fertility, in some testicular cancer cases
  • Punitive damages, where a state allows them

What affects the value of a claim

Your medical situation

  • Which of the six conditions you have
  • Stage at diagnosis and treatment required
  • Your age when you were diagnosed
  • Whether the claim follows a death

Your exposure evidence

  • How long and how directly you were exposed
  • Whether exposure was occupational or through water
  • Testing data for your water system or base
  • Other known risk factors in your history
No one can tell you what your claim is worth before reviewing your records, and no one can promise you will recover anything at all. No global personal injury settlement exists in this litigation, no trial has yet produced a verdict, and no court has approved any individual payment amount. The water utility settlements referenced on this page did not compensate individuals. Any figure or payout range quoted online for PFAS injury claims is speculation. Any service that quotes you a guaranteed dollar figure is telling you something it cannot know. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Attorney fees, case costs and medical liens are taken out of any recovery.

— The process

How It Works: 4 Simple Steps

You do not need water testing data or service records to begin. Tell us where you were and the firm does the rest.

STEP 01 01

Tell us where you were

Fill out the short form or call. How you were exposed, where, roughly how long, and what you were diagnosed with. It takes about two minutes and costs nothing.

STEP 02 02

A law firm reviews your case

If your situation fits, we connect you with a participating law firm. That firm decides on its own whether to represent you, and which track your claim belongs on. If it takes the case, you sign an agreement directly with the firm.

STEP 03 03

The firm builds your exposure record

Service and employment records, addresses mapped against contaminated sites, and public water testing data. Plus your medical and pathology records.

STEP 04 04

Your claim moves with the litigation

Your case is filed and coordinated alongside the trials that will shape any broader resolution. Your firm keeps you updated. You are never required to accept an offer you do not want.

—Why people use us

Trusted Help, at No Upfront Cost

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No upfront fees

The review is free. Participating firms work on contingency, so a fee is owed only out of a recovery. No recovery, no attorney fee.

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Firms in this MDL

We connect you with firms handling PFAS and toxic exposure claims — ones already inside MDL 2873 and tracking the trial schedule.

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Veterans welcome

A PFAS claim is against the chemical manufacturers, not the military or the VA. It is separate from your disability benefits.
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What Direct2Attorney is

A legal marketing and referral service. We check whether your situation matches what participating law firms are looking for, and connect you with one of them if it does.

What Direct2Attorney is not

We are not a law firm. We cannot give you legal advice, represent you, or file anything on your behalf. Only a law firm you sign with can do that.

— Free case review

Get Your Free Case Review

If you handled firefighting foam, served where it was used, or drank water near a contaminated site — and you were later diagnosed with cancer or thyroid disease — find out where you stand. It takes about two minutes. It costs nothing. And your state’s filing deadline is running whether or not you look into it.

— QUESTIONS

PFAS & AFFF Lawsuit FAQs

Who qualifies for a PFAS lawsuit?

Participating law firms are generally reviewing claims from two groups. First, people exposed at work, including military and civilian firefighters, airport and aviation crews and industrial workers who handled AFFF firefighting foam. Second, people exposed through drinking water near a military base, airport, fire training site or chemical plant. In both groups, a diagnosis of one of the conditions the court has prioritized is usually required.

Wasn’t there already a huge PFAS settlement?

Yes, but not for people. 3M agreed to pay roughly $10.3 to $12.5 billion and DuPont, Chemours and Corteva about $1.185 billion. Those settlements went to public water systems and municipalities to clean up water supplies. None of that money was paid to individuals with cancer. Personal injury claims are a completely separate process and no global settlement exists for them.

What health conditions qualify for a PFAS claim?

The court has focused the litigation on six conditions with the strongest scientific support: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid cancer, liver cancer, thyroid disease including hypothyroidism, and ulcerative colitis. Kidney and testicular cancer are considered the strongest claims. Other diagnoses may still be reviewed but are harder to pursue.

My only exposure was firefighter turnout gear. Can I file?

That depends and the distinction matters. The federal panel has twice declined to bring turnout-gear-only claims into MDL 2873, most recently in December 2025. If you were exposed to both AFFF foam and PFAS in your gear, your case can go into the MDL. If your only exposure was gear, your claim proceeds separately, outside that litigation. A firm can tell you which track fits your service history.

I was exposed but I am not sick. Do I have any options?

Possibly. Some claims seek medical monitoring, which funds ongoing health screening for people with documented exposure who have not developed a diagnosed condition. Availability depends heavily on your state, since not every state recognizes medical monitoring claims. It is worth asking about if you lived or worked somewhere with confirmed contamination.

How much does a PFAS lawyer cost?

Nothing to ask. The case review is free with no obligation. If a participating law firm takes your case, it will normally work on contingency. That means the fee comes out of a recovery, and no fee is owed if there is no recovery.

Does filling out the form create an attorney-client relationship?

No. Direct2Attorney is a legal marketing and referral service, not a law firm. An attorney-client relationship may form only after a participating law firm reviews your information and signs a separate representation agreement with you.

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— News & updates

Where the litigation currently stands