On September 9, 2026, the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County denied U.S. Steel’s motion to decertify the class in Hernandez, et al. v. United States Steel Corporation, allowing the claims of more than 120,000 residents in the Mon Valley to continue toward trial on a class-wide basis. The Court also denied U.S. Steel’s motion for summary judgment, rejecting its effort to remove the class members’ claims from the case before trial.

The case arises from increased pollution following the December 2018 fire at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. In opposing decertification, Plaintiffs argued that U.S. Steel was largely repeating arguments the Court had already considered when it certified the class in 2023, and that subsequent discovery had only strengthened the body of common evidence concerning U.S. Steel’s conduct, the post-fire emissions, their dispersion throughout the class area, and their effects on surrounding communities. Plaintiffs also argued that differences in individual residents’ experiences do not defeat class treatment because the central liability questions can be resolved with evidence common to the entire class.

The ruling keeps the certified class intact and clears the way for the case to proceed toward trial in January 2027. Plaintiffs are represented by Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C., together with Pietz Law Office, LLC and Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC.