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Boyd v. Allied Signal12/30/2004
h Cir.6/1/04), 877 So.2d 1011, 1017-18. In their assignments of error, the defendants seem to confuse the requirement of commonality of issues to the class under La. C.C.P. art. 591(A)(2) with that of typicality of the claims of the class representatives under La. C.C.P. art. 591(A)(3). The issue of the defendants' liability clearly presents the same issues of fact and law as to all claimants, regardless of the character of their claims, since all arise from the same incident or "common nucleus of operative facts." See McCastle v. Rollins Environmental Services of Louisiana, Inc., 456 So.2d at 619-20. In the cited case, which arose from the operation of a hazardous waste disposal facility, the supreme court noted that one of the common factual issues subsumed within the broader issue of liability was "whether the probable dispersal patterns of the gases and odors emitted include the areas within which the residences of the members of the class are located." Id. It is noteworthy that the court found certification to be warranted, even though the class definition was much less precise than that established by the trial court in this action.
Since certification was granted only as to the issue of liability, the issue of causation is not actually before us. Nonetheless, that issue is indirectly germane to our discussion of commonality. The defendants herein not only do not concede liability, they vigorously dispute the issue of whether any significant number of claimants was subjected to even minimal exposure to toxic levels of BF sub3 . While this subsidiary factual issue obviously relates more to the broader issue of causation than that of liability, it reinforces our conclusion that commonality exists as to the liability issue. In the Daniels case, supra, the plaintiffs sought certification of a class action arising from an explosion and fire at a chemical plant. There, the defendant stipulated that the cause of the incident was its fault, as well as the issue of "general causation," i.e., "that the substances released in the air following the explosion could, in certain combinations and quantities, cause injury ." Daniels, 03-1478 at p. 12, 877 So.2d at 1019. It thereupon argued that no common issues of fact and law remained after its stipulations, but only individual issues relating to each claimant's damages remain, which predominated and precluded class certification. The Fifth Circuit disagreed, holding that the stipulations tended to satisfy the commonality requirement, being "more of an admission of common issues than a negation of them." Id. It also characterized the disputed issue of whether any of the plaintiffs were exposed to chemical levels sufficiently toxic to cause injury as a common issue. Similar conclusions are justified here, and support the trial court's determination of commonality as to the issue of liability.
TYPICALITY AND ADEQUATE REPRESENTATION
The typicality requirement of La. C.C.P. art. 591(A)(3) requires that the claims of the class representatives be a cross-section, or typical, of the claims of all class members. Singleton v. Northfield Insurance Company, 01-0447, at p. 12, 826 So.2d at 63. Typicality is satisfied if the claims of the class representatives arise out of the same event, practice, or course of conduct giving rise to the claims of the other class members, and are based on the same legal theory. Id. The representatives' claims need not exhibit all of the various types of possible injuries or elements of damages claimed by the class as a whole. Singleton, 01-0447 at p. 13, 826 So.2d at 64. We agree with the conclusion of the special master, adopted by the trial court, that the claims of the class representatives here are typical of the claims of
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