Opinion ID: 779984
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reasonable inferences regarding causation from publicity about Rocketdyne

Text: 53 Even if Plaintiffs should have been aware of publicity about the Rocketdyne facilities, reasonable inferences conflict about whether that publicity would have put Plaintiffs on inquiry notice more than one year before filing their claims that contamination from the Rocketdyne facilities caused their illnesses. See Munger, 227 F.3d at 1087. Plaintiffs contend, in effect, that it is unreasonable to infer on summary judgment that they should have inquired about whether the contamination caused their diseases until the results of the UCLA study became public. We agree. 54 To reach the conclusion that Plaintiffs had discovered their claims prior to the limitations period, the district court imputed to Plaintiffs knowledge of media coverage of contamination in the vicinity of the Rocketdyne facilities. The district court's ruling emphasizes that, particularly in the early 1980s and from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, two periods in which public scrutiny seems to have been most intense, there were a number of reports of contamination from the Rocketdyne Facilities and the issue of contamination was discussed in articles and public meetings. See O'Connor, 92 F.Supp.2d at 1031-1035. The district court also relied on news reports of various studies undertaken to shed light on the health effects, if any, of the releases from the Rocketdyne facilities. The court imputed to some Plaintiffs knowledge of a 1989 Department of Energy (DOE) report concluding that there were contamination problems at SSFL, and to others knowledge of a 1990 California Department of Health Services (DHS) report suggesting a possible connection between Rocketdyne facilities and increased cancer in the surrounding communities. Id. at 1033, 1050. 55 The reports of contamination and Defendants' potential wrongdoing were insufficient to place Plaintiffs on inquiry notice of their claims. Whether Plaintiffs would have suspected on the basis of these media reports that Defendants' contamination caused their injuries, in light of the evidence that the parties presented, is fundamentally a question of fact. Swine Flu Prods., 764 F.2d at 640-41. 56 The studies that the district court relied on in granting summary judgment illustrate the fact-intensive nature of the causation question. The 1989 DOE report summarized its findings: 57 The Survey found no environmental problems at SSFL that represent an immediate threat to human life. The preliminary findings identified by the Survey do indicate that a few areas are actual or potential sources of soil and/or groundwater contamination and that inadequacies in the ground-water monitoring system make it difficult to characterize the nature and extent of contamination. 58 The environmental problems described in this report vary in terms of their magnitude and risk. A complete understanding of the significance of some of the environmental problems identified requires a level of study and characterization that is beyond the scope of the Survey. 59 (emphasis added). Moreover, the DOE team did not purport to study health problems in surrounding communities. The 1990 DHS study similarly reported that the observed cancer incidence rates may have resulted from factors not related to exposure to the waste site and acknowledged that those factors could not be evaluated with the data then available. 60 A 1999 Preliminary Site Evaluation of the SSFL by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 9 (hereinafter, 1999 ATSDR Study ) emphasized that identifying evidence of contamination by substances that have potential health effects is only a preliminary step in assessing actual health effects: 61 With regard to chemicals and radionuclides, not all exposures result in adverse health effects. Several factors determine whether exposure to a chemical or radionuclide has the potential to cause harm. These factors include the contaminant concentration, the exposure duration and frequency, the route of exposure, the toxicity or radioactivity of the substances, and the way the substance is handled by the body following exposure. 62 The study concludes that [t]he release of hazardous substances does not necessarily result in harm to humans. There must be human contact with these substances at levels of health concern before there is potential for exposure-related health effects. 63 These statements demonstrate the complexity of evaluating the likelihood that the contamination related to Plaintiffs' injuries, particularly for Plaintiffs with little or no scientific background. See Maughan, 758 F.2d at 1385 (justifying application of the discovery rule [b]ecause of the complexity of the scientific data concerning causation of cancer, the disparity of knowledge between plaintiffs and potential defendants, and the often long latency period of the disease). 64 The evidence of publicity that the district court relied on did not connect these dots. None of the publicity from this period suggested that available evidence established contamination from the Rocketdyne facilities as the likely cause, among many possible causes, of public health problems. The media reports and expressions of community concern about the contamination were, at best, equivocal about such a link. 65 Two aspects of the publicity stand out. First, numerous documents identify as the primary basis of community concern the lack of public knowledge about the activities at the Rocketdyne facilities, about the level of contamination from the facilities, and about community health consequences. Second, to the extent that the documents draw conclusions — other than conclusions about the subjective fear caused by the Rocketdyne facilities — it is that further study was needed to draw any responsible conclusions. See Tucker v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 158 F.3d 1046, 1050 (9th Cir.1998) (tolling California's statute of limitations because possible causal relationship between silicone implants and autoimmune disease was not well-known in 1986). 66 Articles about the early studies of the health effects of the contamination sent mixed messages. The media reported that the 1989 DOE study had found no evidence of an immediate health threat and emphasized that further tests were needed. A news report on the 1990 DHS study stated that there was no evidence of a health threat to workers or the public. In contrast, the 1997 UCLA study sought to resolve these questions with respect to the health of Rocketdyne employees. DHS commissioned the study to determine whether workers at SSFL experienced excessive mortality from cancer as a result of work-related exposures to radiation. For the first time, the study reported an observed positive relationship between external radiation and lung cancer mortality, as well as increasing trends in mortality rates for other categories of cancers. 67 Assuming Plaintiffs had seen the media reports, one reasonable inference is that, until learning of UCLA's findings, Plaintiffs relied on the public statements that there was no immediate health threat to the community. Moreover, the evidence Plaintiffs submitted of publicity surrounding numerous suspected causes of cancer not related to the Rocketdyne facilities permits the inference that a reasonable plaintiff would have imputed the cause of his or her illness to commonly-known sources other than the Rocketdyne facilities. 68 Thus, the record supports conflicting inferences about whether Plaintiffs were on inquiry notice that the contamination caused their diseases. See Bibeau, 188 F.3d at 1109; Maughan, 758 F.2d at 1389. It does not establish that Plaintiffs were aware that releases from the Rocketdyne facilities were the likely cause, among other causes, of their injuries. These issues of fact are the province of the jury. See Munger, 227 F.3d at 1087 ([W]here conflicting inferences may be drawn from the facts, the case must go to the jury. (internal quotations and citations omitted)). 69