Saint-Gobain Faces Tough Panel on Pollution Class Action Appeal

A federal appeals panel appeared unlikely to overturn class certification in a lawsuit brought by New Hampshire property owners alleging forever chemical contamination by a plastics plant.

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit heavily scrutinized Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp.'s arguments that the lower court abused its discretion in certifying a class for a trial on liability issues on trespass, negligence, and negligent failure to warn claims during a Tuesday hearing.

The company argued the ruling, which bifurcated the plaintiffs’ liability and nuisance claims, didn’t resolve proximate causation or the “inherently individual” nature of damage at each property, ...