Southern Vermont Justice

PFOA CLASS SETTLEMENT

WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

SIGNIFICANT CASH PAYMENT

AND 

FREE MEDICAL MONITORING

CASH PAYMENT:   If you owned a residence in the Zone of Concern on March 14, 2016, you are entitled to a significant cash payment to compensate you for the PFOA contamination in the groundwater and soil of this area.  

On December 17, 2021, the U. S. District Court for the District of Vermont preliminarily approved a Class Action Settlement on behalf of certain property owners and residents in the Bennington and North Bennington area, resulting from widespread PFOA contamination in area soils, groundwater, and bedrock.

EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALWAYS HAD TOWN WATER, YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A SIGNIFICANT CASH PAYMENT. 

EVEN IF YOUR WELL WAS NOT CONTAMINATED, YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A SIGNIFICANT CASH PAYMENT.

EVEN IF YOU HAVE SOLD YOUR PROPERTY, AS LONG AS YOU OWNED IT ON MARCH 14TH OF 2016, YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A SIGNIFICANT CASH PAYMENT.  

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE ZONE OF CONCERN?  

The Zone of Concern is an area defined by the State of Vermont that was contaminated by PFOA and is represented in the map below.  

The Zone includes large sections of Bennington, North Bennington and a small section of Shaftsbury.  Very roughly speaking, the southern border of the Zone is Main Street (Rt.9/West Road) from the intersection of Rt. 279 to Gypsy Lane on to Walloomsac Road; On the west side, Airport Road, up to but not including Whipstock Road, on to Orebed Road, River Road, Harrington Road and on to Rt. 67 in Shaftsbury.   The northern border is Rt. 67, parts of White Creek Road, Elm Street, Lamb Road (Harvest Hills Dr. and part of Matteson Road is included), McCarthy Acres, Town Line Road, over to Outwater Road, Chapel Road and the beginning of Spur Road.  The east border is Rt 279 (including Bedrock Rd) down to Rt. 9, but also includes a triangle of land bordered by Burgess Road and Main Street up to the intersection of Rt. 279.   

If you want to ask if your property is in the Zone, call me, David F. Silver, at 802-442-6341.  I will be happy to answer any of your questions.  

HOW MUCH WILL YOUR PAYMENT BE?  

The Court has preliminarily approved minimum payments per eligible property.  The payments for each category is based on the Grand List valuation of your property in 2016, so each property’s payment will be different.  However, each eligible property will receive at least the following:

• $1,000 for vacant lots;
• $4,000 for homes always on town water;
• $10,000 for homes with wells less than 20 ppt;
• $20,000 for homes with wells at or above 20 ppt;
• $30,000 for homes with wells at or above 20 ppt, but unfeasible to connect to town water. 

If you need any assistance or wish to get an approximate amount you will be receiving, call me, David F. Silver, at 802-442-6341.

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR PAYMENT?  To obtain your payment you must file a Claim with the proper supporting documents before the deadline.  The deadline will be based on when the Final Approval of the settlement is issued by the Court, but will not be before August 22, 2022.  But it will be best for you to file as soon as possible.  

HOW DO YOU FILE A CLAIM?  To learn how to file a claim, go to www.benningtonvtclassaction.com and click on the “Updates and Meeting” tab on the upper right of the page.  Then you will see a link to a YouTube video that explains the process.  You can file a claim online by going to www.benningtonvtclassaction.com and clicking the orange “File Claim” tab on the upper right of the page and follow instructions.  You can also download a Claim Form from there and mail hardcopies of the Claim Form and supporting documents to the Claim Administrator.  ONLY ONE CLAIM FORM PER PROPERTY.  IF YOU OWN MULTIPLE PROPERTIES, YOU MUST FILE A SEPARATE CLAIM FORM FOR EACH.  

IMPORTANT TIP FOR FILING A CLAIM ONLINE:  You will need to submit a property tax form from 2016 or your deed to your property with your claim form.  If you are filing online, make sure you have downloaded a pdf of the tax form or the deed before you start the process—you will be able to upload the document from your computer for the claim but you only have 30 minutes from when you start filling out your claim form online before you get kicked out.    

WHEN WILL YOU RECEIVE YOUR MONEY?  The Administrator will begin to pay out claims 35 days after the final approval by the Court.  Right now the final approval hearing is scheduled for April 18, 2022.  If all goes as planned, we expect the Administrator will begin making payments by the end of May, beginning of June 2022.  The claim period will end, we expect, by the end of August.  We expect that all claims made by that date will be paid before the end of the year.  

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO FILE YOUR CLAIM, PLEASE CALL ME AT 802-442-6341.  I WILL BE HAPPY TO HELP.  

FREE MEDICAL MONITORING:

All eligible participants in the Medical Monitoring Program will receive a $100 incentive payment.

To be eligible for free medical monitoring from the Exposure Class Settlement, you must (1) have resided in the Zone on or before August 23, 2019, (2) drank PFOA-contaminated water in the Zone, and (3) have elevated levels of PFOA in your blood (above 2.1 parts per billion (ppb).

Elevated levels of PFOA in blood have been associated with certain medical conditions, including kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and high cholesterol, among others.  If finally approved, the 15-year Medical Monitoring Program will be available to all eligible Class Members with blood tests showing PFOA-blood levels of 2.1 ppb or more, and will involve annual meetings with Program doctors, as well as blood and urine tests, to ensure the earliest detection of any signs or symptoms of these illnesses.  

YOU WILL NEED A COPY OF YOUR BLOOD TEST RESULTS TO INCLUDE WITH YOUR CLAIM FORM.  You may already have had your blood tested by the State of Vermont, and if so, you can get copies of your blood tests by writing to the VT Dept. of Health, 108 Cherry St., PO Box 70, Burlington, VT 05402-0070.  If you haven’t already had your blood tested, but you lived in the Zone on or before August 19, 2019, and drank PFOA-contaminated water in the Zone, you will be eligible to have your blood tested for free in the first 180 days of the Medical Monitoring Program. 

IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN BLOOD TESTED YET, BUT DRANK FROM CONTAMINATED WATER ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 23, 2019, FILL OUT THE CLAIM FORM ANYWAY, AND WRITE ON IT “NEED TEST”.  YOU WILL BE CONTACTED WHEN FREE BLOOD TESTS ARE AVAILABLE. 

You must file a Claim form to be entered into the Medical Monitoring program.  The Claim Form for Medical Monitoring is the bottom half of the same Claim Form for the cash payment discussed above. Each person who is eligible for the Medical Monitoring program must fill out the section of the Claim Form for the Exposure Class.   

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR NEED HELP WITH FILLING OUT YOUR CLAIM FORM, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL ME, DAVID F. SILVER, AT 802-442-6341.  YOU CAN ALSO GO TO www.bennigntonvtclassaction.com and got to the “Updates and Meetings” tab which will then get you to a link to a Youtube video which will answer many, if not all, of your questions.