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Martello v. City of Ferriday3/6/2002
AFFIRMED.
The Defendants, the Town of Ferriday (the Town), Owen & White, Inc. (O&W; and U.S. Filter Wastewater Group, Inc. (U.S. Filter), appeal the trial court's decision to certify this matter as a class action.
The following undisputed facts, have been taken from the trial court's reasons for judgment, although reordered for purposes of this opinion:
At all relevant times, The Town of Ferriday supplied potable water to the residences and business of Ferriday and the adjacent unincorporated areas, including Red Gum and Lake St. John, and billed its water customers monthly for the water they used.
The Town of Ferriday contracted with the Baton Rouge engineering firm of Owen & White, Inc., in October 1978 for the purpose of designing a new water treatment plant for the Town of Ferriday, and for the adjacent communities that are supplied by the Town's water treatment plant.
Owen & White recommended that the Town of Ferriday build a new water treatment plant, and the Town accepted the recommendation.
Owen & White recommended the use of Old River, also called Marengo Bend, as the source of the raw water for the new water treatment plant, and the Town of Ferriday accepted the recommendation.
In the Fall of 1982, Owen & White . . . recommended that the Town of Ferriday consider using, as the primary filtration component of its new water treatment plant, a packaged water treatment plant designed and manufactured by Neptune Microfloc (the corporate predecessor in interest to defendant USFilter Waste Water Group, Inc.).
Based on the outcome of "pilot water plant" study [conducted using the Neptune Microfloc equipment], Owen & White recommended that the Town of Ferriday accept its design for the new water treatment plant incorporating the Neptune Microfloc packaged water treatment plant, and the Town accepted the recommendation.
The new water treatment plant was constructed and began operating in December 1988. Since that time, it has been the only water treatment plant that supplies potable water to the residences and business of the Town of Ferriday and the adjacent unincorporated areas, including Red Gum and Lake St. John.
Within six (6) months after the new water treatment plant began operating, the Ferriday water customers complained about the quality of the water being produced by the new plant.
The source of the customers' complaints was determined to be an excessively high level of manganese in the raw water of Marengo Bend.
The excessively high level of manganese in the water in Marengo Bend was not reported by Neptune Microfloc in its summary of the May 1983 "pilot water plant" study.
In August 1999, the Louisiana State Department of Health and Hospitals issued first "Boil Water Advisory" and several days later a "Boil Water Notice" for everyone who received their potable water form the Town of Ferriday's water treatment plant.
No one was excluded from the "Boil Water Advisory" or from the "Boil Water Notice". All residences and businesses that were supplied by the Town of Ferriday's water treatment plant were included.
The . . . "Boil Water Advisory" and "Notice" instructed everyone using the Town of Ferriday's water supply that before they could use the Town's water for drinking, cooking, washing hands, or bathing, it first had to be brought to a "rolling" boil for at least 5 minutes.
The "Boil Water Notice" was lifted on . . . December 22, 1999, for all residences and businesses that were supplied by the Town of Ferriday's water treatment plant.
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