Opinion
Plaintiffs sued numerous defendants, alleging personal injuries and property damage caused by exposure to numerous substances over different lengths of time and over different periods. Defendants moved to deny class certification. The District Court, Polozola, Chief Judge, held that class certification was improper.
Motion granted.
David W. Robinson, David W. Robinson, Baton Rouge, LA, William Hugh Sibley, W. Hugh Sibley, Greensburg, LA, Walter L. Smith, Jr., Louisiana Dept. of Justice, Criminal Division, Baton Rouge, LA, John Gregory Murphy, Fletcher, Roy & Morain, Baton Rouge, LA, Wendell H. Gauthier, Gauthier & Murphy, Metairie, LA, Calvin Clifford Fayard, Jr., Fayard & Honeycutt, Denham Springs, LA, Stephen M. Irving, Baton Rouge, LA, John Chandler Loupe, Claitor & Loupe, Baton Rouge, LA, for Carlton Gene Rineheart, Karen Ann Rineheart, Glen Edward Rineheart, Nancy Rineheart, Kirby Bethell Rineheart, Barbara Jane Rineheart, plaintiffs.
Henry Bernis Alsobrook, Jr., Richard J. Kernion, Jr., Adams & Reese, New Orleans, LA, F. Barry Marionneaux, F. Charles Marionneaux, Marionneaux & Marionneaux, (APLC), Plaquemine, LA, for Ciba-Geigy Corporation, defendant.
Richard J. Kernion, Jr., Adams & Reese, New Orleans, LA, F. Barry Marionneaux, F. Charles Marionneaux, Marionneaux & Marionneaux, (APLC), Plaquemine, LA, for Martin Fontenot, Murry McMillan, Robert Babb, defendants.
William C. Ellison, William J. Hamlin, Joell M. Keller, Bordelon, Hamlin & Theriot, New Orleans, LA, for Rollins Environmental Services, Inc., Matlack, Inc., defendants.
Gary A. Bezet, William R. D'Armond, Leonard L. Kilgore, III, Charles S. McCowan, Jr., Bradley Charles Myers, Glenn Michael Farnet, Kean, Miller, Hawthorne, D'Armond, McCowan & Jarman, Baton Rouge, LA, for Mobil Chemical Corporation, Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation, Hercules, Incorporated, Nalco Chemical Company, Stauffer Chemical Co, Stauffer Chemical Corporation, Helena Chemical Co, Marathon Oil Co., Vulcan Materials Company, Martin Marietta Corporation, Velsicol Chemical Company, Vinings Chemicals Company, Oxirane Chemical/Cango Service, Georgia Pacific Corporation, Reagent Chemical & Research, Inc, Texas Brine Corporation, Cos Mar Incorporated, Warren Petroleum, Inc., Uniroyal Inc, defendants.
Gary A. Bezet, William R. D'Armond, Leonard L. Kilgore, III, Bradley Charles Myers, Glenn Michael Farnet, Kean, Miller, Hawthorne, D'Armond, McCowan & Jarman, Baton Rouge, LA, for BASF Wyandotte Corporation, Thompson Hayward Chemical Company, defendants.
John R. Tharp, David Mark Bienvenu, Jr., Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, Baton Rouge, LA, for Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto Company, Albemarle Corporation, a foreign corporation authorized to do and doing business in the State of Louisiana, defendants.
Gary A. Bezet, William R. D'Armond, Leonard L. Kilgore, III, Bradley Charles Myers, Glenn Michael Farnet, Kean, Miller, Hawthorne, D'Armond, McCowan & Jarman, Baton Rouge, LA, Patricia E. Weeks, Frilot, Partridge, Kohnke & Clements, LC, New Orleans, LA, for Exxon Chemical USA, defendant.
Kenneth P. Carter, Gulf States Utilities Co., Baton Rouge, LA, Marcus V. Brown, R. O'Neal Chadwick, Jr., Susan Mueller Grehan, Entergy Services Inc, Legal Department, New Orleans, LA, Eugene George Taggart, Taggart, Morton, Ogden, Staub, Rougelot, Brocato & O'Brien, New Orleans, LA, for Louisiana Power & Light Co., defendant.
William R. Alford, Jr., Covington, LA, for MacKenzie Chemical Works of Louisiana Incorporated, defendant.
Stephen C. Carleton, Frank P. Simoneaux, Timothy J. Poche', Simoneaux, Ryan, Carleton & Dunlap, Baton Rouge, LA, for Borden, Inc, defendant.
Frederick R. Campbell, Mishthi Grace Ratnesar, Keith M. Matulich, Campbell, McCranie, Sistrunk, Anzelmo & Hardy, Metairie, LA, for Good Hope Refineries Incorporated aka Transamerican Natural Gas Corporation, defendant.
Richard A. Curry, McGlinchey Stafford Lang, Baton Rouge, LA, for Gulf Interstate Engineering Company, defendant.
Charles R. Lane, New Orleans, LA, for Halliburton Comp, defendant.
James Rodney Chastain, Jr, Francis S." Frank" Craig, III, Emile C. Rolfs, III, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, Baton Rouge, LA, for Browning Ferris, Inc., defendant.
John Gerard Allelo, Matchett, Verbois, Futrell & Henchy, Baton Rouge, LA, Keely Yoes Scott, Crawford & Lewis, Baton Rouge, LA, for Chemical Weed Incorporated, defendant.
Gerald L. Walter, Jr., Schwab & Walter, Baton Rouge, LA, John F. Derenbecker, Anne Jordan Crochet, Schwab & Walter, Baton Rouge, LA, for Chemwaste Incorporated, defendant.
Leonard L. Kilgore, III, Charles S. McCowan, Jr., Bradley Charles Myers, Glenn Michael Farnet, Kean, Miller, Hawthorne, D'Armond, McCowan & Jarman, Baton Rouge, LA, for Diamond Shamrock Corporation A, Warren Petroleum, Inc., defendants.
James L. Weiss, Gordon, Arata, McCollam & Duplantis, New Orleans, LA, for Dynamic Exploration Incorporated, defendant.
Robert Glen Dawkins, Dawkins, Carter & Shadoin, Ruston, LA, for Eltex Chemical and Supply Company, defendant.
Walter B. Stuart, IV, Vinson & Elkins, Houston, TX, for GH Fluid Services Incorporated aka Gulf Coast PreMix Trucking, defendant.
James C. Carver, Eugene R. Groves, Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, Baton Rouge, LA, for Ohmstead of Louisiana Incorporated, defendant.
James Edward Blazek, Donna M. Borrello, Glen M. Pilie, Adams & Reese, New Orleans, LA, for Shell Oil Company, defendant.
Andrew H. Meyers, Preis, Kraft, LaBorde & Daigle, Lafayette, LA, Michael Gerard Lemoine, Breaud & Lemoine, Lafayette, LA, for Weatherford Lamb Incorporated, defendant.
Paul S. West, McGlinchey Stafford Lang, Baton Rouge, LA, James M. Garner, Martha M. Young, McGlinchey Stafford Lang, New Orleans, LA, for Prudhomme Truck and Tank Service, defendant.
Arthur R. Cooper, Baton Rouge, LA, for Chemical Leaman Tank, defendant.
Stephen W. Glusman, Glusman, Moore, Arbour, Broyles & Glusman, Baton Rouge, LA, for American Hoechst Corporation, defendant.
Osborne J. Dykes, III, Zack A. Clement, Eva M. Fromm, Edward C. Lewis, Fulbright & Jaworski, Houston, TX, Patrick A. Juneau, Jr., The Juneau Firm, Lafayette, LA, for McNair Transport Incorporated, defendant.
Mary M. Craven, U.S. District Court, Lake Charles, LA, James A. Lochridge, Jr., Voorhies & Labbe', Lafayette, LA, for Teledyne Industries, Inc., defendant.
Mishthi Grace Ratnesar, Keith M. Matulich, Campbell, McCranie, Sistrunk, Anzelmo & Hardy, Metairie, LA, for Transamerican Refining Corporation, defendant.
Dwight C. Paulsen, III, Ernest L. Edwards, Jr., Nicole Duarte Martin, Lemle & Kelleher, New Orleans, LA, for Tenneco Oil Company, defendant.
Patricia Parker Reeves, Thirty-Second Judicial District, Division A, Judge Guidry, Houma, LA, C. Berwick Duval, II, Duval, Funderburk, Sundbery & Lovell, Houma, LA, for Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., a Louisiana Corporation, defendant.
Eric Alan Shuman, McGlinchey Stafford Lang, New Orleans, LA, for Castrol North America, a foreign corporation authorized to do and doing business in the State of Louisiana fka Castrol Inc., defendant.
Dominic Joseph Gianna, John Dennis Person, Marshall J. Simien, Jr., Middleberg, Riddle & Gianna, New Orleans, LA, for Fluor Engineers and Contractors, a foreign corporation authorized to do and doing business in the State of Louisiana fka Fluor Daniel Inc., defendant.
RULING ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DENY CLASS CERTIFICATION
POLOZOLA, Chief Judge.
This matter is before the Court on the defendants' motion to deny class certification. After considering the oral arguments of the parties and the original and supplemental briefs of counsel for all parties, the Court finds that a class action is improper under the facts of this case. Specifically, the Court finds:
(1) Plaintiffs have failed to satisfy the requirements of typicality and adequate representation under Rule 23(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
(2) This case involves alleged personal injuries and property damage allegedly caused by exposure to numerous substances over different lengths of time, over different periods, and from a number of defendants.
(3) Each plaintiff has alleged different injuries and each has different health histories which makes a single trial impossible under the facts of this case.
(4) Trial of this case by class action is not the superior method of trying the issues involved in this case.
It is doubtful if this case would be a class action if tried in state court under Ford v. Murphy Oil U.S.A., Inc., 703 So.2d 542 (La.1997). It is clear that recent cases decided by the United States Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals also preclude this Court from certifying this case as a class action in federal court under the facts of this case. In each of these cases, the courts found that the individual claim predominated over the potential class claim because each plaintiff would have to offer different evidence against various defendants to prove that a particular defendant caused a particular injury to the plaintiff. The courts also considered that the alleged events may have occurred over a long period of time which may include hundreds of dates, if not more. The causation issue in these cases is even more complicated when one considers the unique facts affecting each individual defendant. Proving liability for one plaintiff against one or more defendants will not resolve causation problems relating to the other plaintiffs and defendants in this case.
See also Banks v. New York Life Ins. Co., 697 So.2d 592 (La.), on remand to, 705 So.2d 1168 (La.App. 1st Cir.1997), writ granted, No. 98-C-0551, 719 So.2d 1270 (La.1998).
Amchem Prod., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997); Castano v. American Tobacco Co., 84 F.3d 734 (5th Cir.1996); Allison v. Citgo Petroleum Corp., 151 F.3d 402 (5th Cir.1998).
The Court also refuses to grant a partial certification of a limited number of issues as proposed by the plaintiff. The record is not sufficient for the Court to make this determination at this time. It may well be that the Court will consolidate certain issues for trial as permitted by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Court may also implement a procedure as outlined in In re Chevron U.S.A., Inc., or Cimino v. Raymark Industries, Inc. However, the record is not sufficient to make this determination at this time.
109 F.3d 1016 (5th Cir.1997).
151 F.3d 297 (5th Cir.1998).
Therefore:
IT IS ORDERED that Defendants' Motion to Deny Class Certification is GRANTED.