5 Environmental Class Actions Attorneys Need to Track
Atlanta partner Doug Henderson was quoted in this May 7 Law360 article that examines five environmental class action suits to watch, Ebert v. General Mills, Campbell v. Chiquita, Allen v. Boeing, Modern Holdings v. Corning, and Vermont v. Atlantic Richfield. According to Doug, environmental class actions are difficult to predict because of the fundamental class certification issues they raise. Doug observes that if you look at class action requirements – like commonality and predominance in the environmental context – individual issues predominate, which weighs against certifying a class.
“One person is dying of cancer and lives near an industrial establishment and claims to be sick from it [but] may also have smoked, may be overweight and the house may be a different distance than other people in the class,” he said. “All those things are different, which suggests a class would not be an effective way to resolve claims.”