[StBernard] Court Decertifies Class in Petroleum Dust Action

[Westley Annis]

Court Decertifies Class in Petroleum Dust Action

By SABRINA CANFIELD 

     NEW ORLEANS (CN) - The 5th Circuit vacated class certification in a
suit that claims a group of children and several adult chaperones were
exposed to petroleum coke dust released by a refinery adjacent to a park.

     A three-judge panel agreed with Chalmette Refinery that the District
Court failed to prove it had seriously considered how the trial would be
conducted - a finding it would have to make before ruling in favor of class
certification.

     "We do not suggest that class treatment is necessarily inappropriate,"
Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote for the court. "As Chalmette Refining
acknowledged at oral argument, class treatment on the common issue of
liability may indeed be appropriate. But our precedent demands a far more
rigorous analysis than the district court conducted."

     On the afternoon of Jan. 12, 2007, a number of school children, their
teachers and parents were at the Chalmette National Battlefield
participating in an historical reenactment when the Chalmette Refinery
released petroleum coke dust into the air.

     Five of the adults present filed a lawsuit on behalf of themselves,
their children and everyone else at the Chalmette Battlefield who was
exposed to the toxic dust.

     The suit sought a variety of damages, claiming personal injury, fear,
anguish, psychological injury and evacuation, as well as economic and
property damages.

     The District Court granted the plaintiffs' request for class
certification, but the 5th Circuit disagreed, finding the District Court
"abused its discretion" by adopting "a figure-it-out-as-we-go-along
approach."

     Before certifying a class, a court must determine that "questions of
law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any
questions affecting only individual members and that a class action is
superior to other available methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating
the controversy," Clement wrote.  

     "By failing to adequately analyze and balance the common issues against
the individual issues, the district court abused its discretion in
determining that common issues predominated and in certifying the class,"
the ruling states.

     The 5th Circuit said the District Court "oversimplifies the issue" in
concluding that the plaintiffs were either on the battlefield and exposed to
the coke dust, or they were not.

     Agreeing with Chalmette Refinery, Clement wrote that "even among the
named class representatives, significant disparities exist, in terms of
exposure, location, and whether mitigative steps were taken" to prevent harm
after the plaintiffs were exposed to the dust.