Louisiana Landfill Pollution Suits Stay in Federal Court

Waste Connections Inc. properly moved seven consolidated suits over landfill pollution out of Louisiana state court, a federal court ruled.

By consenting to consolidation, the plaintiffs showed they aren’t willing to undergo the inconvenience of seven separate trials, Judge Susie Morgan wrote for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Therefore, the suits—filed by 600 plaintiffs seeking various damages—were properly removed under the Class Action Fairness Act’s mass action provision, the court said.

No federal appeals court has ever directly addressed whether the provision applies when plaintiffs consent to consolidation originally proposed by a defendant, the court ...