Opinion ID: 836210
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: applied an erroneous standard of law

Text: Before certifying the plaintiff class, the trial court sought briefing and conducted extensive oral arguments on the motion for class certification. Nevertheless, even though it did so, the trial court's opinion made no mention of these facts. Instead, the trial court prefaced its ruling by explaining that [w]hen evaluating a motion for class certification, the court is to accept the allegations of the plaintiff in support of the motion as true. This statement has meaning, and its meaning completely rebuts the plaintiffs' claim that the trial court conducted the appropriate analysis in making its ruling on class certification. The trial court's statement indicates that it approached its analysis without the appropriate analytical independence from the plaintiffs' allegations supporting class certification. It is appropriate to vacate the trial court's certification for this legal error alone. [19]
Moreover, a critical reading of the trial court's actual ruling underscores the inappropriate deference that the trial court afforded plaintiffs' pleadings on the motion for class certification. For example, in concluding that there are questions of law or fact common to the members of the class that predominate over questions affecting only individual members, [20] the trial court merely reiterated plaintiffs' claims without discussing the arguments that defendant proffered in opposition to the motion. Defendant's trial brief listed several questions of law or fact that it alleged required individualized determination:  How each proposed property class member uses and enjoys his, her[,] or its property (when, in fact, there are a vast array of different types of commercial, industrial, agricultural, residential, governmental, non-profit and other entities in the 20-mile-long proposed property class area, and each proposed class member uses and enjoys his, her[,] or its property in ways different from others);  Whether each proposed class member has suffered a substantial and unreasonable interference with use and enjoyment as a result of misconduct by Dow (when, in fact, such proposed class members already have testified that they have not suffered any such interference, and the alleged interferences from others are highly variable and dissimilar);  Whether the different levels of dioxin on class properties constitute an unreasonable and substantial interference with use and enjoyment (when, in fact, the levels differ significantly from each other, such that some proposed class members have no level of dioxin on their soil in excess of levels upstream of Dow, some have no level of dioxin on their soil in excess of the DEQ's direct contact criteria, and other proposed class members have higher levels);  What duty (if any) Dow owes to each particular proposed class member (when, in fact, different types of dioxin have been deposited on different proposed class properties at different times over the past 100 years, by potentially many different entities, who would have faced vastly different standards of care and states of the art at the time of such deposits and, even focusing on the most current version of the DEQ's direct action criteria (which were not applicable until recently), different DEQ criteria apply to different types of property within the class, and those criteria differ from applicable federal criteria);  Whether Dow violated any duty owed to different proposed class members (when, in fact, the various levels of dioxin on the different properties fall both above and below the various potential standards of care that could have been in effect over the past 100 years);  Whether any proposed class member's property value was injured (when, in fact, many proposed class members already have sold their class properties at a substantial profit, including some who received more than their asking price and others who have sold for more than their recently appraised value, whereas others have no interest in ever selling their property, and others refuse to sell, and still others contend their property has been rendered worthless);     Whether and how each proposed class member is situated vis-à-vis Dow's defenses, including the statute of limitations (when, in fact, many proposed class members have believed for many years that Dow polluted the Tittabawassee River, including with dioxin, and thereby diminished the use and enjoyment and value of proposed class properties). Thus, defendant raised several issues in this case that may require individualized determination, and that therefore may bar class certification under MCR 3.501(A)(1)(b). Even if these concerns ultimately do not preclude class certification, the issues raised are ones that a trial court would have rebutted or explained if it had conducted an independent inquiry into whether the prerequisites of class certification had in fact been met. The trial court's failure to respond to any of these claims in its ruling, therefore, belies the plaintiffs' contention that the trial court conducted an appropriate analysis of whether the plaintiffs' proposed class met the requirements for class certification. Moreover, it belies the majority's assumption that the trial court conducted an appropriate analysis of some of the class certification prerequisites, as the predomination prerequisite is one in which the majority concluded that the circuit court appears to have independently determined that plaintiffs alleged a statement of basic facts and law sufficient to support [the] prerequisite[ ].... [21] Because the trial court failed to address defendant's arguments in opposition to class certification, not only did it articulate a legal standard that was inconsistent with the plain meaning of the Michigan Court Rules, but it also applied that inappropriate standard in granting class certification. Accordingly, class certification must be vacated in its entirety, and this case must be remanded to the trial court for reconsideration of all the class certification prerequisites in light of the appropriate legal standard.
On remand, the trial court must determine whether the plaintiffs' proposed class in fact meets the prerequisites for class certification contained in MCR 3.501(A)(1). [22] If the trial court determines that the proposed class meets the prerequisites for class certification, then the trial court may certify the proposed class. However, if it certifies the same class, it may only certify that class with regard to the issue of Dow's liability. Two judges on the Court of Appeals held that, as a matter of law, damages must be determined in individual proceedings. [23] I would not disturb that holding; indeed, the plaintiffs did not file a cross-appeal to dispute the majority's determination that proceedings to determine damages must be bifurcated from any class action regarding Dow's liability. Accordingly, I would preclude the trial court from certifying the proposed class on the issue of damages, since that legal issue has been settled for the purposes of this litigation. [24] The majority has reversed the Court of Appeals majority's decision that bifurcation on damages is required. Although it claims that it do[es] not reach the question of if, and to what extent, the issues involved in this case should be `bifurcated,' [25] it does so by subterfuge in claiming that it do[es] not think that the circuit court abused its discretion by waiting to determine to what extent bifurcation of the issues involved may be needed. [26] This is in direct contradiction of the majority position of the Court of Appeals, which states unequivocally that with regard to damages, individualized questions prevail. [27] This gross violation of our procedural rules is yet another indication of the majority's now familiar approach to seek its desired result whatever the consequences. [28] The plaintiffs, appellees to this case, have not filed a cross-appeal of the Court of Appeals majority's decision requiring that damages be determined on an individualized basis. It is a basic principle of appellate procedure that appellees who have not cross-appealed may not obtain a decision more favorable to them than was rendered by the Court of Appeals. [29] The majority's failure to follow this basic principle of law by declaring that the trial court has discretion not to follow the binding decision of the Court of Appeals, where the majority does not even state that it is reversing any part of the Court of Appeals' judgment, is contrary to this Court's precedent and unworthy of a Court committed to the rule of law. [30]
The party seeking certification of a class under MCR 3.501 bears the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that its proposed class in fact meets the requirements for class certification as articulated in the Michigan Court Rules. The trial court, therefore, is not bound to accept the allegations of the moving party, but rather must make an independent finding that the prerequisites of class certification have been met. Because the trial court in the instant case did not make such an independent determination, I would vacate class certification in its entirety and remand this case to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. I would not disturb the Court of Appeals majority's decision that the proposed class may not be certified on the issue of damages. MAURA D. CORRIGAN and STEPHEN J. MARKMAN, JJ., concur. CORRIGAN, J. ( concurring in the opinion of YOUNG, J. ). I join Justice Young's opinion in full. I write separately in order to discuss additional issues raised by this appeal that I believe the trial court should consider on remand before again certifying a class in this case. The trial court's October 21, 2005, opinion and order granting class certification formally defined the class to include all persons who owned real property within the one-hundred year Flood Plain of the Tittabawassee River in Saginaw County, Michigan, on February 1, 2002. The class definition also included a geographic description of the relevant flood plain. But the definition did not limit the class to those property owners who are actually injured by pollution emanating from the activities of defendant, Dow Chemical Company. Rather, the order defined the class broadly to include all of the approximately 2,000 persons who owned property on approximately 13,000 acres of land. I conclude that such an indiscriminate, overbroad definition of the class failed to comport either with MCR 3.501 or with the precedent cited in the trial court's order because it included numerous class members with no present injuries. Further, such an overbroad class definition would be likely to have significant, negative effects on the hundreds of purported class members who indeed may have no present injuries. It is striking that only about 170 landowners had elected to join this suit as plaintiffs at the time of the trial court's certification decision. [1] The owners of property with no present injuries may reasonably wish not to be included in the class because certification of their otherwise unharmed property may itself guarantee reduction in their property values; these landowners will never recover against Dow because they cannot allege damages under negligence or nuisance theories, but their property values may collapse further simply as a result of their being lumped into the class. For this reason, if the trial court on remand again concludes that certification of a class is proper, I would direct the court to limit the class to those property owners with actual injuries as a result of Dow's activities.