Federal Claims Court Tosses PFAS Takings Suit Against Air Force

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has dismissed a $400 million lawsuit filed by property owners near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico who alleged the Air Force’s decades-long use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam amounted to a taking of their property without just compensation. The court cited three “independent yet overlapping” grounds for dismissal. First, it dismissed plaintiffs who are already pursuing similar relief in pending multidistrict litigation over PFAS-containing AFFF before the District of South Carolina, finding their claims barred under 28 U.S.C. § 1500. Second, it found the claims of most remaining plaintiffs unripe because they lacked confirmed PFAS contamination on their property. Third, the court rejected the final claims because they both sounded in tort and otherwise failed to assert a cognizable Fifth Amendment takings claim. The court concluded that the plaintiffs did not plausibly allege government intent to invade their property or any benefit conferred on the government by the alleged contamination.

March 26, 2025 | Schaap v. United States, No. 1:24-cv-01300 (Fed. Cl.).