Opinion ID: 3006720
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Aggregate Statistical Evidence

Text: Exxon argues that the State should not have been permitted to rely upon aggregate statistical evidence rather than individualized evidence of particular water supplies and sites. Before trial, Exxon moved to exclude the opinions of three of the State’s experts estimating the probability of MTBE occurrence in New Hampshire, the past costs of MTBE remediation, and the future costs of investigating and remediating MTBE sites. Exxon argued that these experts, Dr. Graham Fogg, Gary Beckett, and Dr. Ian Hutchison, “attempt to draw statewide conclusions about MTBE detections and costs from small ‘sample’ datasets, extrapolating to the State at large,” but “fail . . . to follow basic, wellaccepted statistical and scientific principles.” Following a hearing, the trial court issued a written order “accept[ing] the [State’s] argument that using statistical methods is appropriate and, as a result, the state-wide proof model is acceptable and relevant.” The court reasoned that “the use of statistical methods, assuming their reliability, makes the existence of the [State’s] injury more probable than it would be without such evidence; likewise, it will assist the trier of fact to understand and determine both the existence and extent of the [State’s] injury.” Thus, the trial court concluded that the State’s experts’ opinions “are relevant to prove injury- 33 in-fact and damages” and that it would accept proof of injury “through the use of statistical evidence and extrapolation, i.e. the ‘state-wide approach.’” The trial court set forth several reasons in support of its conclusion. First, the court noted that the majority of the cases cited by Exxon are classaction cases, “which disallow the use of aggregate damages across a class of plaintiffs.” The court found those cases distinguishable because, here, the State “does not seek to establish injury among several class plaintiffs through the use of an aggregate model, but instead seeks to prove its own injury through the use of statistics.” Second, the court reasoned that New Hampshire’s “‘declaration of policy’ confirms that an injury to both public and private waters within the [s]tate is an indivisible injury, allowing for the State to prove its claim upon state-wide proof.” The court stated that under RSA 481:1, “[t]he state as trustee of the waters for the public benefit declares that it has the authority and responsibility to provide careful stewardship over all the waters lying within its boundaries,” and that this statute provides the State “with more than just a vehicle to demonstrate standing: the statute allows the [State] to prove injury to a single resource.” (Quotation and brackets omitted.) Finally, the trial court reasoned that “general policy considerations support allowing the [State] to establish injury and damages using statistical methods.” The court stated: American manufacturers now mass produce goods for consumption by millions using new chemical compounds and processes, creating the potential for mass injury. As a result, modern adjudicatory tools must be adopted to allow the fair, efficient, effective and responsive resolution of claims of these injured masses. In a perfect setting, the [State] would have the resources to test each individual well over a long period of time and precisely determine its damages. However, if such a process were undertaken here, it would have to continue beyond all lives in being. The Court simply cannot support such a process. Moreover, requiring the [State] to test each individual well undoubtedly and unfairly “tilts the scales” in [Exxon’s] favor . . . . Here, . . . the necessary additional litigation costs the [State] would have to bear would consume much of any recovery, making continued pursuit of the litigation fruitless. Because of these public policy interests, the Court finds that allowing the [State] to use statistical methods of proof is relevant to prove injury and damages in this case. The fact is that for decades, judges, lawyers, jurors, and litigants have shown themselves competent to sift through statistical evidence in a variety of contexts, from mass toxic torts to single-car collisions. Not only have they shown themselves 34 competent, but also such evidence has become a generally accepted method for a plaintiff to prove his case. This Court is simply not persuaded by [Exxon’s] attempt to frame this case as a class action. As a result, the Court rejects the notion that New Hampshire law forbids the use of a statistical approach to prove injury-in-fact. (Quotations, citations, brackets, and ellipsis omitted.) Exxon subsequently attempted to exclude the opinions of the same three experts on grounds of reliability, arguing that the State’s experts used improper methodologies and, even when they used proper methodologies, they applied the methodologies incorrectly to the facts and data provided. After conducting a thorough analysis of each of the statistical methods employed by the State’s experts, the trial court concluded that their opinions and methodologies were reliable and denied Exxon’s motion. Following the trial court’s ruling that the statewide approach was acceptable, Exxon sought an interlocutory transfer to this court. The trial court denied the request, finding that Exxon failed to satisfy the requirements of New Hampshire Supreme Court Rule 8(1). See Sup. Ct. R. 8 (interlocutory appeal from ruling). In its order, the trial court noted that, despite its rulings otherwise, Exxon continued to assert that it is feasible to try this case on a well-by-well approach. As the court explained, under Exxon’s approach, the State would identify a contaminated drinking-water well and then trace the source of contamination to a particular physical location that leached gasoline into the ground. These locations will usually be businesses associated with gasoline, like retail gas stations and junkyards. From here, these entities can then trace the gasoline back through the product chain to the wholesaler and eventually the refiner. In this way, either the State or the retailers can spread the liability throughout the product chain. [Exxon] explain[s] that because all entities in a product chain would be liable for the State’s harm, the State should be required to proceed on a well-by-well approach. The trial court found this method to be “technically and scientifically infeasible.” The court reasoned: The State’s case attempts to impose liability on manufacturers and refiners. Without decision makers selecting, marketing, and reformulating MTBE, it would never have been included in the RFG program and would never have been imported into New Hampshire to spill, leak, and evaporate. Gasoline imported into New Hampshire would not have been capable of 35 contaminating the State’s water resources in the vast, seemingly uncontainable way it has if it did not contain MTBE. The State has chosen to pursue the named Defendants because they created the initial risk that led to widespread contamination. Based on this selected class of defendants, product tracing is virtually impossible. Defendants themselves admit that tracing MTBE found in a contaminated well all the way back to the refiner is virtually impossible because MTBE lacks a chemical signature, linking it to a particular refiner. Additionally, a contaminated well, many times, cannot be traced to a particular retailer, making it practically impossible to trace MTBE to a specific wholesaler. Following the jury verdict, Exxon argued in its motion to set aside the verdict that the statewide approach allowed the State “to prove its private well and ‘future injury’ case using statistical extrapolations from experts about potential hypothetical impacts rather than particularized evidence of an actual injury” and that this “resulted in the State being able to avoid its burden to prove individualized causation with respect to particular private well impacts.” The trial court denied the motion, stating that its prior rulings on this issue were rulings of law and that because “Exxon does not raise any new facts regarding these rulings and it does not contend that the jury’s verdict was conclusively against the weight of the evidence,” the argument “did not properly fall within the purview” of a motion to set aside. On appeal, Exxon argues that the trial court erred in allowing the State to prove its case on a statewide basis. Exxon asserts that “[e]very other court to address the issue has recognized that MTBE tort cases depend overwhelmingly on individualized questions of law and fact, and thus are not amenable to proof on a mass basis.” According to Exxon, the trial court “broke from these precedents” in allowing statewide aggregate evidence. The State argues that the “immense scope of Exxon’s pollution” has “directly affected a substantial portion of the State’s population” and that “[t]he statewide nature of Exxon’s tortious conduct, therefore, required adjudication on a statewide basis.” (Quotation omitted.) The State asserts that Exxon has “mischaracterize[d] both the trial record and the relevant standards of review.” We review challenges to a trial court’s evidentiary rulings under our unsustainable exercise of discretion standard and reverse only if the rulings are clearly untenable or unreasonable to the prejudice of a party’s case. In the Matter of McArdle, 162 N.H. at 485. Exxon cites In re Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Products Litigation, 209 F.R.D. 323 (S.D.N.Y. 2002), as an example of why “MTBE tort cases depend overwhelmingly on individualized questions of law and fact.” The trial court, 36 however, found this and other MTBE cases involving a determination as to “injury in fact” to be unhelpful, as “the facts of this case are very different.” In contrast to the New York MTBE case in which the court dismissed full categories of class plaintiffs who had actually tested and detected no MTBE in their wells, the trial court noted that here, “the [State] has tested many wells where it has discovered the existence of MTBE. It merely seeks to extrapolate that information in order to establish further injury.” The trial court agreed that “if the [State] had not tested any wells or had tested wells and found no MTBE, the [State’s] pursuit of a statistical approach would be fruitless.” As further distinguishing the New York MTBE case, the trial court noted that, whereas in the New York case, the plaintiffs’ allegations neither contained any statistics pertaining to MTBE detection rates for private wells nor established that the private wells were located in proximity to possible release sites, here the State “provided the Court with adequate statistical evidence through their experts,” and, the State seeks recovery “on the basis of ‘high-risk’ areas only.” At trial, the State offered proof based upon expert testimony regarding 1,584 specific sites where MTBE has been known to leak and has contaminated the subsurface. The State also introduced scientific evidence through expert testimony that 5,590 drinking water wells serving 16,276 people are contaminated with MTBE at levels over 13 ppb, and that many more are expected to become contaminated in the future. Dr. Fogg used substantial data on MTBE contamination in the state to calculate statistically the number of drinking wells currently contaminated by MTBE. The State’s experts expressly accounted for the fact that “every site is different.” Exxon does not contend on appeal that the expert evidence was irrelevant or unreliable. Based upon the record, we conclude that the trial court’s determination that the use of statistical evidence and extrapolation to prove injury-in-fact was not an unsustainable exercise of discretion. See Bodwell v. Brooks, 141 N.H. 508, 510-11 (1996) (statistical probability evidence may be used to rebut the presumption of legitimacy); Rancourt v. Town of Barnstead, 129 N.H. 45, 50-51 (1986) (validity of a town’s growth control ordinance rests upon a relationship between the town’s growth restrictions and a projection of “normal growth” based upon scientific and statistical evidence); In re Neurontin Marketing and Sales Practices, 712 F.3d 21, 42 (1st Cir. 2013) (“courts have long permitted parties to use statistical data to establish causal relationships”).