Chrysler, Aramark Will Face Contamination Class Claims

Behr America Inc., Chrysler Motors LLC, and Aramark Uniform & Career Apparel Inc. must face class claims by neighbors for contaminating their groundwater, the Sixth Circuit affirmed July 16.

The land owners may pursue seven issues on a class basis without proving that common questions predominate over individual issues for the case as a whole, Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch wrote for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The decision widens a three-way split among the federal appeals courts over whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(4) may be used to certify an issues class where predominance hasn’t ...