Vita: Microplastics Litigation Increasing

Despite the lack of clarity on the basic question of whether microplastics pose any risks to human health, the plaintiffs’ bar has increasingly filed class actions based on the presence of microplastics, according to Shook Partner Bill Vita and Associate Diler Cavdar. Vita and Cavdar coauthored an article titled “Microplastics—A New Litigation Trend,” published in the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel’s weekly newsletter. 

In the article, they said it is time for defense and corporate counsel to learn about microplastics, as their clients—including manufacturers and distributors—are increasingly faced with the task of defending such litigation. In the article, Vita and Cavdar discuss what plastics are and where they come from, and also highlight examples of microplastics litigation.  

“Time will tell whether microplastics will lead to mass toxic tort claims or equally prevalent consumer fraud actions,” they said. “In the interval, this new frontier in litigation merits monitoring and scrutiny, as well as the early identification and assembly of experts to meet and understand claims arising from the presence of microplastics in modern life.”

Read the article in the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel newsletter >>