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Kennedy v. Baxter Healthcare Corp.2/28/1996
SPARKS, Acting P. J.
Plaintiffs Kathleen Kennedy and Sharon Tryon are health care workers who brought suit against a variety of manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of latex gloves for injuries sustained due to an alleged allergic reaction to these gloves. In addition to individual causes of action, plaintiffs' second amended complaint also alleged a class action on behalf of "those persons in the health field in the State of California with allergies and medical problems due to repeated exposure to said latex gloves."
The trial court eventually sustained defendants' demurrers to the class action allegations without leave to amend, and plaintiffs appeal. We shall affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In their original complaint, plaintiffs alleged six causes of action based on defendants' alleged failure to warn of potential dangers associated with exposure to latex. These causes of action included products liability claims predicated on negligence, strict liability and failure to warn; negligent misrepresentation; breach of warranty; and equitable relief in the form of a medical monitoring fund. These claims were asserted on behalf of plaintiffs individually and on behalf of a class consisting of "those persons within the State of California with allergies and medical problems due to latex and latex-related products and specifically including, but not limited to, persons in the medical and dental field in the State of California who are obliged to use, did use, and are using protective gloves, hoods, masks and similar objects."
Defendants demurred to the class action allegations, asserting in part that common questions were overshadowed by the unique factual and legal issues presented by each individual claimant. They urged there were such differences on questions of liability, causation, damages and defenses that treatment of this litigation as a class action was inappropriate. The trial court agreed, and commented on the overly broad nature of a class made up of any user of any latex product who suffered any type of injury. The court sustained defendants' demurrer with leave to amend, ruling: "The purported class is not sufficiently defined nor ascertainable. Further, on the face of the complaint, there appears to be no benefit to the court from the litigation if as [ sic ] a class action. Plaintiffs may narrow the description of the class as much as plaintiffs are willing to, and the court will rule whether the change is sufficient."
In their first amended complaint, plaintiffs included the same causes of action, with one exception: they dropped their claim for negligent misrepresentation. Instead of a class composed of any people who had used any latex products, as described in their initial complaint, plaintiffs now described a class "consisting of those persons within the State of California with allergies and medical problems due to repeated exposure to protective latex gloves specifically including persons in the health field in the State of California who are obliged to use, did use, and are using protective latex gloves."
Defendants renewed their demurrer, again asserting in part that there was no ascertainable class and that individual issues predominated. At the hearing on this demurrer, the court noted the problems presented by the fact that plaintiffs had not alleged that they used gloves manufactured by any particular defendant. Defendants pointed out other problems, ranging from the fact that plaintiffs were not the actual purchasers of the gloves and thus did not enjoy the privity required to assert a claim for breach of implied warranty of merchantability, to the fact that each company's knowledg
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