- Attorney General Jeff Jackson opposes a request to pause his environmental lawsuit against DuPont and Chemours as the companies appeal a trial judge's ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
- The pause could delay a state Business Court hearing scheduled Oct. 30.
- The companies argue that Jackson lacks authority to pursue his complaint. Business Court Judge Michael Robinson rejected that argument in August.
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson opposes pausing his environmental lawsuit against DuPont and Chemours while the companies appeal a trial judge’s ruling to the state Supreme Court. A pause could delay a Business Court hearing in the case scheduled Oct. 30.
The companies have asked the high court to rule that Jackson lacks authority to pursue his complaint. DuPont and Chemours have asked Business Court Judge Michael Robinson to stay the case until the Supreme Court acts.
“The State filed this case nearly five years ago to hold Defendants accountable for the contamination of North Carolina’s natural resources,” Jackson’s lawyers wrote Tuesday. “The case has proceeded through several motions to dismiss and fact and expert discovery, with pending dispositive and expert motions to be argued at a hearing on October 30, 2025. During these five years, as the State has steadfastly sought a remedy for its harms, including for North Carolinians’ contaminated drinking water, the extent of the widespread pollution is still unknown.”
“Meanwhile, Moving Defendants — the very entities which caused the contamination — request yet another delay in answering for their actions by requesting to stay proceedings while they petition our Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to consider this Court’s Order and Opinion holding that the Attorney General has, and has had, the authority to bring and maintain this action under common law,” Jackson’s court filing continued. “The ultimate reason they provide is simple: they wish to avoid the time and expense of preparing for the upcoming hearing. But their desire to avoid the burden of ongoing proceedings does not rise to the level of sufficient irreparable harm to warrant a stay. Moreover, the relatively small amount of resources and expenses that Moving Defendants would prefer to avoid pales in comparison to the harm they have caused and that continues to plague the State and its residents.”
“Moving Defendants also attempt to cast their request as a ‘short’ stay, when in reality they seek an indefinite stay of the State’s ability to defend and protect North Carolina’s natural resources and the health of its citizens,” the attorney general argued. “The prejudice to the State and its residents if an indefinite stay is granted while the widespread contamination persists outweighs any nominal prejudice to Moving Defendants if this case proceeds.”
Robinson ruled in August that Jackson could continue pursuing the suit filed in 2020 by Jackson’s predecessor as attorney general, current Gov. Josh Stein.
DuPont and Chemours appealed that ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court on Sept. 26. The companies challenged the attorney general’s authority to file his own suit on top of other legal action initiated by state environmental regulators.
The NC Chamber Legal Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday supporting the companies.
“The Attorney General brought this action against DuPont and Chemours over releases of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (‘PFAS’) from Fayetteville Works, a manufacturing facility,” the companies’ lawyers wrote in their state Supreme Court petition. “He brings this case not on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (‘NCDEQ’), the regulatory agency that has already sued over PFAS discharges from Fayetteville Works, but on behalf of the State of North Carolina generally.”
“Through this lawsuit, the Attorney General acts as a second environmental regulator who answers only to himself, free from the legislative or administrative rulemaking process,” the petition continued. “The Attorney General seeks to recover substantial money damages based on the supposed need to fund various environmental and related programs, even though Chemours is already funding many similar programs in cooperation with a comprehensive Consent Order it entered into in the litigation brought by NCDEQ concerning PFAS discharges from Fayetteville Works. There is no guarantee that any judgment or settlement in this case would even go towards creating those programs.”
“Moreover, lawsuits brought by thousands of parties, including private citizens and governmental bodies, assert the same alleged injuries to much of the same resources and seek much of the same damages that the Attorney General seeks in this case,” the court filing added.
DuPont and Chemours also raised questions about Jackson’s legal defense of his authority to bring suit.
“The Attorney General previously relied upon a statute, Section 114-2(8)(a), as authorizing him to bring this case,” the companies’ lawyers wrote. “The General Assembly repealed that statute, which empowered the Attorney General to pursue litigation that he thought was in the public interest, at the end of 2024. DuPont and Chemours then moved to dismiss because the Attorney General no longer has standing to prosecute this case.”
“In response, the Attorney General reversed course, arguing that Section 114-2(8)(a) actually never applied, and asserted broad common-law authority to pursue any litigation he deems necessary to protect the property or revenue of North Carolinians,” the petition continued. “The trial court was persuaded by the Attorney General’s position and denied the motion to dismiss.”
“The trial court erred in concluding that the Attorney General has common-law authority to bring this sprawling environmental case. The General Assembly has enacted a comprehensive statutory scheme that tasks NCDEQ, not the Attorney General, with protecting the environment. The Attorney General’s lawsuit impermissibly encroaches into NCDEQ’s domain,” the companies argued.
Robinson’s Aug. 7 order supported the attorney general’s power to pursue his lawsuit.
“North Carolina, upon independence from Great Britain, inherited the common law of England not repugnant to or inconsistent with its own laws,” the judge wrote. “Under English common law at that time, the Attorney General had the power to ‘prosecute all actions necessary for the protection and defense of the property and revenue of the Crown.’ The Crown was the sovereign of England; however, in North Carolina, the People are sovereign.”
“Further, North Carolina law has established that the Attorney General has the power to ‘prosecute all actions necessary for the protection and defense of the property and revenue of the sovereign people of North Carolina,’” Robinson added. “Additionally, North Carolina has a quasi-sovereign interest in its natural resources, and a quasi-sovereign interest is a form of property interest.”
“Therefore, the Court concludes that the Attorney General has had, and continues to have, the power to originate and maintain suits for the protection and defense of North Carolina’s natural resources on behalf of the people of North Carolina and the State as a whole,” the judge wrote.
Robinson rejected DuPont and Chemours’ argument that the AG’s office could act only on behalf of state regulators with the Department of Environmental Quality.
“[T]he Court reads N.C.G.S. § 113-131(d) as requiring the Attorney General to act as attorney for the NCDEQ when the NCDEQ requests it; however, this does not necessarily bar the Attorney General from representing the State in natural resource cases without the NCDEQ’s explicit request,” Robinson wrote. “Given the additional fact that NCDEQ lacks statutory authority to seek some of the specific relief sought in this action, it appears to the Court that only the Attorney General has the authority to seek such damages and relief for the State and citizens of North Carolina.”