What You Need to Know

• Microplastics, tiny plastic particles typically smaller than five millimeters, are causing significant environmental damage and have been found in oceans, fresh water, soil, air, and even inside humans and animals.
• Emerging litigation seeks to hold corporations accountable for plastic pollution, focusing on two major legal theories: consumer fraud and public nuisance.

Paul J. Napoli and Coral M. Odiot-Rivera, partners at Napoli Shkolnik, discuss the growing area of litigation against microplastics in their recent article for the American Association for Justice’s December 2025 Trial Magazine. They explain that municipalities and states are increasingly turning to traditional tort doctrines and consumer protection laws to seek compensation for the damage these contaminants cause.

“At the heart of these consumer fraud claims are allegations that companies have misled consumers about the recyclability, safety, and environmental impact of plastic products,” Napoli and Odiot-Rivera wrote. “Now, in the face of an environmental emergency, the legal system is being called on to redefine corporate responsibility.”

A Shift in Environmental Law

The article discusses how lawsuits are challenging companies on two fronts: consumer fraud for misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastics, and the other being public nuisance for marketing plastic products knowing they would become pollutants.

“Microplastics litigation signals a turning point in environmental law,” they wrote. “Courts are increasingly applying established legal doctrines—consumer fraud and public nuisance—to contemporary environmental challenges that the laws didn’t anticipate.”

The full article can be found here.