A New Hampshire jury has awarded $4,360,000 to a class of 217 homeowners in Amherst in the first-ever class trial over a “forever chemical,” Law.com reported on November 10, 2026. This is a jury verdict in other parties’ case — Hermens v. Textiles Coated Incorporated (TCI) — not a Tacher Law case, not a settlement, and not a newly filed complaint.

On Friday, November 6, 2026, after a three-week trial in Hillsborough County Superior Court, a unanimous jury found in favor of the homeowners. The class consisted of 217 Amherst homeowners whose properties and private wells were affected.

What the jury found

These are adjudicated jury findings, not allegations. The jury found that TCI’s fabric-coating facility released PFOA — a PFAS “forever chemical” — through its smokestacks over decades. The PFOA migrated through the air, landed on nearby properties, infiltrated the soil, and contaminated groundwater and private wells; some residents lost the use of their wells and rely on bottled water. The jury found TCI liable for negligence, negligent failure to warn, trespass, and nuisance.

Source: Law.com, November 10, 2026.

The scope of this verdict — read it carefully

This verdict covers property-value losses only. The homeowners’ other claims remain to be tried. That limit matters: a headline number can sound like the end of a case when it is only one phase of it. The verdict also came after nine years of litigation, which is a realistic measure of the timeline in environmental contamination cases.

One more point must be plain: this is a New Hampshire case decided under New Hampshire law. It is not Florida law, and nothing in this report should be read as a statement of Florida law.

What this teaches injury and property-damage victims

First, contamination you cannot see can still be trespass and nuisance. The jury’s findings rested on a chemical traveling through the air and into soil and water — no one had to physically set foot on the homeowners’ land for those claims to succeed. Second, property-value claims can win at trial before any illness claim is ever heard; this phase of the case was about what the contamination did to homes and wells, not about disease. Third, failure to warn carries its own liability: the jury treated the company’s silence as a separate wrong, apart from the release itself. Fourth, expect time. Nine years of litigation preceded this verdict, so documents, testing records, and early legal review matter long before a trial date exists.

By comparison only, Florida claims are governed by Florida law and Florida deadlines. In Florida, negligence claims generally follow modified comparative negligence — recovery is reduced by the plaintiff’s percentage of fault and barred entirely if the plaintiff is more than 50 percent at fault — while medical malpractice claims are the exception and still follow pure comparative negligence under Chapter 766. Anyone who believes their property or health was affected by contamination should have their own facts reviewed promptly, under the law that actually applies to them.

Disclaimer: This report concerns other parties’ cases. It is news reporting and general information, not legal advice, and past results in other cases do not guarantee similar outcomes.

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