W.Va. SUPREME COURT VACATES MEDICAL MONITORING CLASS ACTION:

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) has applauded the West Virginia Supreme Court’s Dec. 2 decision to vacate a lower court certification of a class action as a tremendous step towards returning the class action mechanism to its intended function. PCI applauded the Supreme Court’s decision in Chemtall Inc. v. Madden. According to Robert Hurns, PCI counsel and legislative database manager the high court in effect has determined that trial lawyers cannot impose West Virginia’s medical monitoring standards upon other states that have not adopted them. The case involves coal workers allegedly exposed to acrylamide while working in plants in West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. The workers filed a class action lawsuit against various manufacturer defendants, with the class consisting of workers from the aforementioned states, as well as their offspring alleged to be “at increased risk of developing genetic abnormalities and diseases.” On Sept. 26, 2003, the circuit court certified the class. Petitioners took their challenge of the class certification to the West Virginia Supreme Court in April, and the court accepted the issue. West Virginia has the nation’s most liberal law pertaining to “medical monitoring,” in which individuals who have been exposed to substances such as asbestos but are not currently ill are monitored, should the illness manifest down the road, if at all. Insurers have traditionally been required to pay for the heavy costs of this monitoring. The ruling in this case should serve as notice to lower courts that they should only certify classes where the class members properly meet the criteria for certification.

Topics Lawsuits Virginia West Virginia