Court Opinion

ID: 9678125
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:12:15.265217+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:01.973775
License: Public Domain

WILLIAM RAY PRICE, JR., Judge,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority opinion that common issues predominate over individual issues. From that perspective, the trial court erred in denying class certification. I write separately because the claim of the named plaintiff is not typical of the class. For that reason, the trial court was correct and the class should not be certified. See Business Men’s Assur. Co. of America v. Graham, 984 S.W.2d 501, 506 (Mo. banc 1999).
Rule 52.08(a) provides:
Prerequisites to a Class Action. One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all only if ... (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class ...
Plaintiff in this case is Lani Meyer, by and through her next friend Rebecca Coplin. Lani alleges that she has suffered actual present injuries resulting from toxins produced by the defendants. In fact, Lani has filed a separate personal injury action against the defendants based upon those injuries in the Circuit Court for the City of St. Louis, Meyer v. Fluor Corporation, No. 052-9609. The class of persons Lani seeks to represent, however, are children who have been exposed to those same toxins, but who have not yet exhibited or recognized symptoms of illness.
As the majority opinion points out, there are many and significant differences between personal injury actions involving a present injury and an action for medical monitoring, including the very nature of the relief sought. As class representative, Lani seeks a money award to pay for “the costs of periodic diagnostic testing and examination necessary to detect the existence of physical harm from exposure to hazardous chemicals.” However, having already suffered injury, Lani needs treatment and an award of damages for her injuries, not medical monitoring. The fact that Lani has brought her own individual lawsuit is an undeniable admission that the interest of the class and her own interests *721are not the same, but are in conflict. See Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 626, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997)(“[F]or the critically injured, the critical goal is generous immediate payments. That goal tugs against the interest of exposure-only plaintiffs in ensuring an ample, inflation-protected fund for the future.”); Wall v. Sunoco, Inc., 211 F.R.D. 272, 279 (M.D.Pa.2002)(“Several cases have addressed the conflict between representatives who are already injured and those who have only been exposed to a hazardous substance and seek medical monitoring although they currently suffer no injury. The cases find that a conflict of interest exists between the presently injured and the exposure-only plaintiffs.”).
Because the claims of the proposed representative plaintiff are not typical of the class, certification is not proper under Rule 52.08(a)(3). I would affirm the judgment of the trial court denying class certification.