If you lived, worked, or served at or near Ellsworth Air Force Base and later developed a serious illness linked to PFAS, you can join the Ellsworth Air Force Base PFAS lawsuit by filing a claim in the national multidistrict litigation known as MDL 2873. No personal injury settlements have been reached as of mid-2026, bellwether trials were vacated in August 2025, and projected individual payouts remain speculative.1U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Case Management Order No. 35
Who Can File a Claim
Claims tied to Ellsworth are brought by people who were exposed to PFAS from aqueous film-forming foam used at the base and then diagnosed with a qualifying health condition. That group includes military veterans and active-duty personnel who served at Ellsworth, their family members, civilian employees on base, and nearby residents whose drinking water was contaminated.
Exposure at Ellsworth is well documented. The Air Force used AFFF at the base from 1970 until November 2016, and training areas where the foam was repeatedly discharged became source zones for groundwater contamination.2Ellsworth Air Force Base. PFOS/PFOA February 2020 Newsletter The Air Force first detected PFAS in on-base groundwater in 2011 and began finding off-base contamination in private drinking water wells in 2016.3EPA. Ellsworth Air Force Base Cleanup Activities The plume now stretches roughly 25 miles southeast along Boxelder Creek toward the Cheyenne River, and PFAS concentrations in base groundwater and soil reached 551,000 parts per trillion in 2016, among the highest ever recorded at a U.S. military installation.4South Dakota Searchlight. Proposed EPA Forever Chemicals Regulation Could Cost SD Millions for Testing, Cleanup
If you lived in Box Elder or on nearby property, exposure may be straightforward to establish. Roughly 100 families around the base have been on bottled water provided by the military after their supplies tested positive, and 26 private wells within two miles of the base showed PFAS levels at ten times the EPA’s 2016 safety advisory.5SDPB. Air Force and Local Authority Plan Free Water System to Replace Contaminated Wells Of 117 private wells sampled, 23 exceeded the older 70 ppt threshold.6EPA. Ellsworth AFB PFAS Town Hall Presentation Under the EPA’s April 2024 enforceable drinking water standard of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS, the affected area is significantly larger.7EPA. EPA Announces It Will Keep Maximum Contaminant Levels for PFOA, PFOS
Specific duration-of-exposure requirements and documentation standards vary by firm and by the court’s evolving case management rules.
Which Health Conditions Qualify
The illnesses most closely linked to PFAS exposure in the current litigation are kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid cancer, thyroid disease, liver cancer, and ulcerative colitis. Reporting on military PFAS cases has also identified associations with prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, and hormonal disruptions, though causal connections for some of these conditions are still being studied.8South Dakota News Watch. Firefighting Foam, Air Force Military Veterans, Ellsworth, South Dakota In November 2023, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified PFOA as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it is considered definitively carcinogenic to humans.
Twenty-eight personal injury bellwether cases are moving through discovery in the MDL, and they are organized around four conditions: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, and ulcerative colitis.9Drugwatch. PFAS Water Contamination Settlements Those four are the clearest path for an individual claim right now, though claims involving other PFAS-linked diseases are also being filed.
Where the Lawsuit Stands
Ellsworth claims are consolidated into MDL 2873, the national AFFF products liability litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina under Judge Richard M. Gergel. The MDL combines cases from military bases, airports, and industrial sites across the country where AFFF contaminated groundwater, and more than 15,200 cases are pending as of mid-2026.10U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. MDL 2873 – Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation
Bellwether trials, designed to test representative personal injury cases and help establish settlement values, had been scheduled to begin in October 2025. In August 2025, Judge Gergel vacated those dates to address a backlog of unfiled cases and ensure proper vetting of claims.1U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Case Management Order No. 35 No new bellwether dates have been set, and the litigation has shifted toward settlement negotiations.11Drugwatch. AFFF Lawsuit Update
Industry attorneys have projected that individual personal injury settlements could range from $75,000 to $500,000 or more, depending on the severity of the illness and the strength of the exposure evidence. Those figures are speculative until actual settlements or verdicts come through.9Drugwatch. PFAS Water Contamination Settlements
What Has Already Been Settled
The large PFAS settlements announced to date are for public water systems, not individuals. Four defendants have reached finalized, court-approved agreements with water system plaintiffs: 3M for between $10.5 billion and $12.5 billion, DuPont with Chemours and Corteva for $1.185 billion, and Tyco Fire Products and BASF for additional amounts.12PFAS Water Settlement. PFAS Water Settlement – Official Site
Two boundaries matter for Ellsworth-area readers. First, these settlements compensate public water utilities for cleanup costs; they do not pay individuals for illness. A personal injury claim is a separate case within the MDL. Second, water systems owned by the federal government that lack independent authority to sue are excluded from the 3M settlement class, which limits the base’s own on-post water system from participating.13PFAS Water Settlement. 3M Frequently Asked Questions
Documenting Your Exposure
A personal injury claim turns on two proofs: that you were exposed to PFAS tied to Ellsworth, and that you have a qualifying diagnosis. Useful exposure records include military service orders showing time at Ellsworth, housing records for on-base or nearby residence, well sampling results from the Air Force’s testing program, and documentation of being connected to a treatment filter, municipal line, or bottled-water delivery as part of the Air Force’s response. By early 2019, the Air Force had evaluated 1,611 properties, surveyed 654 of them, and sampled 112 private drinking water wells east, south, and west of the base, so a paper trail exists for many residents.2Ellsworth Air Force Base. PFOS/PFOA February 2020 Newsletter
Medical records establishing diagnosis dates, pathology, and treatment history are the other half. For cancers and thyroid disease, oncology and endocrinology records are typically central; for ulcerative colitis, gastroenterology records.
What to Do Next
If you think you qualify, the practical next step is to speak with a firm handling AFFF cases in MDL 2873 before the court sets new filing deadlines in response to the backlog Judge Gergel flagged. Gather what you can of the two proofs above. If your well was tested by the Air Force or you were offered bottled water, filters, or a municipal connection, request copies of those records now; they are among the strongest exposure documents a resident can produce.
The underlying cleanup is far from finished. Ellsworth has been a Superfund site since 1990, PFAS is tracked under Operable Unit 13, and the EPA’s current schedule puts completion of the remedial investigation and feasibility study between September and November 2027.14EPA. Ellsworth Air Force Base Cleanup Schedule The 2025 five-year review rated the groundwater as only “short-term protective.”3EPA. Ellsworth Air Force Base Cleanup Activities New sampling results and the eventual Record of Decision are likely to expand the universe of people with provable exposure, so claims filed on the strength of today’s records may be joined by many more as the record grows.