Opinion ID: 33414
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Cox and Spencer Class Action Settlements

Text: 7 The defective PB plumbing systems caused considerable litigation. In 1994, a group of plaintiffs reached a class action settlement in a Texas state court with the Appellees, but the Texas court rejected the settlement. Beeman v. Shell Oil Co., No. 93-047363 (Dist. Ct., Harris County, Tex.). In the meantime, other plaintiffs filed separate PB class actions in Alabama state court and Tennessee state court. Spencer v. Shell Oil Co., No. CV94-074 (Cir. Ct., Greene County, Ala.); Cox v. Shell Oil Co., No. 18,844, 1995 WL 775363 (Tenn.Chanc. Ct., Obion County, Nov. 17, 1995). In 1995, the Appellees entered into a class action settlement in Cox. The Tennessee state court approved a national settlement, which required Shell and Hoechst to contribute $950 million to replace eligible consumers' leaking PB plumbing systems and to reimburse them for the property damage which the leaks had caused. In Spencer, the Alabama state court approved a class action settlement that required DuPont to contribute further sums toward the repair and replacement of PB plumbing systems.