Northrop Grumman Hazardous Waste Class Claims Stay Federal

A would-be class action against Northrop Grumman Corp. over hazardous waste pollution should be litigated in federal, not state, courts because the complaint was amended solely to defeat federal jurisdiction, the Eastern District of New York ruled Dec. 15.

Long Island landowners allegedly injured by toxic chemicals from a former Northrop facility can’t shift the case to more plaintiff-friendly New York state courts simply by adding a local town as a defendant, the court said.

The decision follows a trend in which federal courts have turned aside efforts by plaintiffs to side-step federal jurisdictional requirements in mass tort cases. ...