Faegre Drinker Team Defeats Class Certification in Indiana Toxic Tort Action

In a significant victory for our manufacturing client, the federal court denied plaintiffs' motion to certify a class action in its entirety in an environmental toxic tort case. Plaintiffs had asked the court to certify property damage and injunctive relief classes on behalf of residential property owners near a historical manufacturing facility, alleging that metal degreasing solvents released decades ago migrated through sewer lines, indoor air, groundwater, and surface waterways to damage their properties. They sought compensation for declining property values and medical monitoring costs, as well as an injunction ordering further investigation and cleanup of the site. The court agreed with our client, however, that individualized issues of exposure, causation, and damages, among other reasons, precluded class treatment.

The ruling came after more than three years of complex litigation involving hard-fought discovery disputes, extensive expert discovery on cutting-edge environmental exposure and causation issues and evolving federal regulatory developments at the site. Our team also previously defeated crossclaims by a co-defendant seeking to hold our client liable for its defense costs and individual tort claims in parallel state court proceedings.