Court Certifies Class for Narrow Liability Claims in Environmental Contamination Case

Traditionally, federal courts have been reluctant to certify class actions in environmental contamination cases because of inherently unique issues raised by plaintiffs' personal-injury claims. In other contexts, however, class plaintiffs have been able to overcome atypicality arguments at the certification stage by advocating that courts certify the class for liability only and then bifurcate proceedings for individual hearings on damages. Despite being subject to the criticism that certification, even for limited purposes, puts undue pressure on defendants to settle, this trend also appears to be gaining traction in the context of mass environmental torts.

Ebert v. General Mills, Inc.,¹ a decision by Judge Donovan W. Frank of the US District Court for the District of Minnesota, is the latest example of this trend. The Ebert court certified a class of about 200 property owners in a Minneapolis neighborhood to pursue claims against General Mills for