Judge Says Complaints Are Too Varied to Allow Single Case Over Toxins in Homes Government Supplied After 2005 Storms
Paulo Prada
The Wall Street Journal
December 30, 2008
A federal judge on Monday denied class-action status to thousands of hurricane victims seeking damages for alleged exposure to a toxic chemical while living in emergency housing provided by the federal government after deadly Gulf Coast storms in 2005.
Victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, spread across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, have filed hundreds of lawsuits over the past three years against the federal government and dozens of manufacturers of mobile housing trailers.
Jim 'Hawk' Herring talks about the problems in his FEMA trailer in the New Orleans area in February. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the government and manufacturers over the past three years. |
The complaints allege that formaldehyde in units supplied to them as temporary shelter made them sick. Though the chemical is permitted by law in limited quantities as a preservative on plywood and other building materials, the plaintiffs argue that their exposure exceeded safe limits and that many people were made ill or injured as a result.
Common issues in the cases last year led the federal court system to attempt to consolidate the cases in one court, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. In October, plaintiffs' lawyers filed motions seeking class-action status for all the cases. That would have allowed a single trial to settle all the claims and potentially increase the number of plaintiffs and amount of damages.
But in a 50-page order Monday, Judge Kurt Englehardt refused to allow class-action status. The judge found that the number of plaintiffs and multiple defendants, as well as varying state laws and legal issues related to trailer types and differing formaldehyde levels, made it impossible for the cases to be consolidated.
The victims' claims and the types of housing received "vary greatly on an individual basis and require an individualized assessment," he wrote. "No class representative can be said to adequately represent the interests of all."
Plaintiffs' lawyers said they are disappointed by the ruling, but not surprised considering the number and variety of the cases alleging formaldehyde-related ailments. Because a single court will still exist to address common issues among many of the suits, they said, attorneys will focus on finding so-called bellwether cases that can help set precedents for settlements with plaintiffs filing similar claims.
 "We're looking forward to putting before a jury some good, instructive bellwether cases," said Gerald Meunier, a New Orleans attorney who was one of those seeking class-action status. "We'll see what they do with those, and we'll know more about how to conclude all of the other litigation."
Amid the violent hurricane season of 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency scrambled to find emergency housing for evacuees who fled the Gulf Coast. The agency bought tens of thousands of mobile units -- ranging from truck-drawn trailers to bigger mobile-home-style dwellings -- from dozens of manufacturers.
After testing a sample of 519 of the government-issued trailers a year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many of the units contained formaldehyde levels that exceed those in most mobile homes across the country. The higher levels, the CDC said in a July report, can cause "acute symptoms, such as coughing and irritated eyes, nose, throat, and upper respiratory system." But even at lower levels, the report continued, "risk for cancer can increase."
Many who inhabited the trailers say they became ill after prolonged exposure to formaldehyde. At issue in the cases is the concentration of the chemical in trailer materials and whether some of the smaller trailers were even suitable for anything but brief periods of habitation.
At court hearings earlier this year, defense lawyers argued that many trailers came with instructions notifying occupants to ventilate their trailers frequently to reduce the buildup of chemicals within the units. Plaintiffs' attorneys countered with assertions by toxicologists that formaldehyde wouldn't be completely eliminated by simply airing out a trailer.
Write to Paulo Prada at paulo.prada@wsj.com |
