Jennifer Hooks & Beatrice Hooks Individually and On Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated VS Boh Brothers Construction Company, L.L.C., Robert H. Boh, Robert S. Boh and XYZ Insurance Company
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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL FIRST CIRCUIT NO 2010 CA 0536 JENNIFER HOOKS AND BEATRICE HOOKS Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated i S VERSUS BOH BROS CONSTRUCTION CO L C ROBERT H BOH ROBERT S BOH and XYZ INSURANCE COMPANY Judgment Rendered October 29 2010 On Appeal from the 22nd Judicial District Court In and for the Parish of St Tammany State of Louisiana Trial Court No 200715849 Honorable William J Knight Judge Presiding Richard J Dodson Baton Rouge LA Attorneys for Plaintiffs Appellants Jennifer Hooks and Beatrice Hooks Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated Richard S Vale Attorneys for Defendants Appellees William L Brockman BOH Bros Construction Co L C Robert H Boh Robert S Bob and Kenneth H Hooks III Henry Price Mounger Pamela F Noya Joseph L LaHatte III Metairie LA XYZ Insurance Company BEFORE CARTER C GAIDRY AND WELCH JJ J CARTER C J Plaintiffs challenge the trial court decision to deny class action s certification in this case We affirm the trial court judgment s FACTS Plaintiffs Jennifer Hooks and Beatrice Hooks filed a class action petition against defendant Boh Brothers Construction Co L BOH C claiming property damage and personal injury as a result of allegedly excessive airborne dust and other noxious materials that occurred during maintenance and repair work conducted by BOH in August 2007 on Lopez Street in Slidell Louisiana Plaintiffs timely filed a motion to certify their class action alleging that over 330 individual residences and business establishments within four blocks of Lopez Street suffered from the airborne substances BOH opposed the class certification The trial court held a hearing on plaintiffs motion to certify the class action pursuant to LSAC art 591 P C At the hearing plaintiffs introduced a map of the neighborhood affected by the airborne substances and pictures of the dusty material on a variety of items located in the vicinity of Lopez Street Additionally plaintiffs presented testimony of three witnesses designated as class representatives Jennifer Hooks Beatrice Hooks and Sylvia Hooks together with the affidavits of three additional putative class members who were residents of the neighborhood allegedly affected by the airborne substances Normand Pizza Tonya Meyer and Sara Giangrosso BOH presented the testimony of the company claims s manager Jeffery Clement and the Lopez Street resurfacing project foreman I Plaintiffs originally named additional defendants Robert H Boh and Robert S Boh individually but the claims against those defendants were later voluntarily dismissed 2 Robert Brown After the hearing the trial court permitted the record to be left open for fortyfive days for further specified discovery and the filing of posthearing memoranda Thereafter the trial court issued written reasons for denying plaintiffs motion for class action certification finding that plaintiffs did not carry their burden of proving numerosity one of the required elements for certifying a class action The trial court signed a judgment rendered in accordance with its reasons on October 20 2009 and plaintiffs timely appealed LAW AND ANALYSIS The trial court consideration of class action certification involves a s twostep process Therefore appellate review of the trial court decision s must also follow a twostep analysis 1 determine whether a factual basis exists for certifying the matter as a class action and review those factual findings pursuant to the manifest error standard and 2 if a factual basis exists for certification then review the trial court ultimate decision with s respect to certification pursuant to the abuse of discretion standard giving the trial court decision wide latitude See Singleton v Northfield Ins s Co 01 0447 La App 1 Cir 5 826 So 55 6061 writ denied 02 15 2d 02 1660 La 9 825 So 1200 Hampton v Illinois Cent R Co 02 30 2d 98 0430 La App 1 Cir 4 730 So 1091 1093 1094 Unless the 99 1 2d trial court committed manifest error in its factual findings or abused its discretion in deciding that class certification is appropriate we must affirm the trial court determination Singleton 826 So at 61 s 2d Article 591A of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure sets forth the prerequisites for maintaining a class action establishing that the use of the class action procedure is appropriate when 3 1 The class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable 2 There are questions of law or fact common to the class 3 The claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class 4 The representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class 5 The class is or may be defined objectively in terms of ascertainable criteria such that the court may determine the constituency of the class for purposes of the conclusiveness of any judgment that may be rendered in the case All of the above threshold elements numerosity commonality typicality adequate representation and objectivity definability must be present to maintain a class action LSA C art 591B State v Ford P Motor Co 061810 La App 1 Cir 6 965 So 438 442 writ 07 27 2d denied 071580 La 10 965 So 405 The failure to establish any 07 12 2d element precludes certification Galjour v Bank One Equity Investors Bidco Inc 05 1360 La App 4 Cir 6 935 So 716 723 06 21 2d The initial burden to establish the article 591 elements is on the party seeking to maintain the class action Conclusory allegations of the pleadings alone are insufficient to establish the existence of a class Cotton v Gaylord Container 96 1958 La App 1 Cir 3 691 So 760 768 97 27 2d writ denied 970800 La 4 693 So 147 In determining whether 97 8 2d these elements have been established the court may consider the pleadings affidavits depositions briefs exhibits and testimony presented at a certification hearing purely procedural Singleton 826 So at 62 2d Class certification is Therefore the issue at a class certification hearing is Z Paragraph B of article 591 provides additional prerequisites for a class action to be properly certified if the Paragraph A prerequisites are met however the additional requirements are not at issue in this appeal 13 whether the class action is procedurally preferable not whether any of the plaintiffs will be successful in urging the merits of their claims or whether the plaintiffs have a cause of action Id The first required element that the persons constituting the class are so numerous as to make joinder impracticable is commonly referred to as numerosity This element is determined based upon the facts and circumstances of each individual case and there is no set number above which a class is automatically considered so numerous as to make joinder impractical as a matter of law Id The key is impracticality and not impossibility of joinder Galjour 935 So at 723 quoting 1 Frank L 2d Maraist and Harry T Lemmon Louisiana Civil Law Treatise Procedure Civil 12 4 1999 And although it is not necessary that all potential class members be identified the party seeking certification should be able to establish a definable group of aggrieved persons with plausible claims Singleton 826 So at 62 See also Boyd v Allied Signal Inc 03 1840 2d La App 1 Cir 12 898 So 450 457 writ denied 05 0191 La 04 30 2d 05 1 4 897 So 606 Hampton 730 So at 10941095 The simple 2d 2d conclusory allegation of the existence of a large number of potential claimants does not satisfy the necessity to establish the element of numerosity Singleton 826 So at 63 2d In its well written reasons for judgment the trial court noted that plaintiffs had the burden of establishing the numerosity element The trial court stated in pertinent part Plaintiffs contend that they have spoken with various other individuals who have encouraged them to bring this proceeding and who have expressed their interest to participate in this suit Plaintiffs state in their Post Hearing Memorandum in Support of Class Certification that all of the property owners and or E residents of this area would be members of the putative class While plaintiffs specifically define the area of the alleged tort the mere conclusory statement of all property owners and or residents along with the testimony of the three live witnesses and three affidavits is simply not enough evidence to satisfy plaintiffs burden of proving that the numerosity requirement is met As stated by the First Circuit in Hampton v Illinois Central Railroad Company 730 So 1091 La App I Cir 2d 1999 numerosity is not shown by mere allegations of a large number of potential claimants Id at 1094 The burden is placed on the plaintiffs to make a prima facie showing that a definable group of aggrieved persons exist Id at 1095 In the instant matter plaintiffs have only specifically identified about ten people who have expressed an interest in pursuing a claim against BOH Therefore the Court finds that plaintiffs have not carried their burden of proving that the requirement of numerosity is met and because of this failure with regard to one of the elements necessary for a class action denial of certification is justified Id at 1095 Since plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden of proof regarding numerosity the Court will not address the other factors Accordingly the Court denies plaintiffs Motion to Certify Class Action Our review of the record supports the trial court factual finding that s plaintiffs only identified approximately ten people who were potentially affected by the airborne substances allegedly caused by BOH Lopez Street s resurfacing project and who have actually expressed an interest in pursuing a claim against BOH On the other hand BOH presented testimony from the foreman in charge of the Lopez Street resurfacing project as well as the claims manager for BOH Both witnesses testified that BOH did not receive any complaints about excessive dust on the Lopez Street job until plaintiffs lawsuit was filed Additionally the foreman testified that the dust on the Lopez Street project was typical of resurfacing jobs and he did not witness any dust from the job fourtofive blocks away from Lopez Street Generally a class action is appropriate whenever the interested parties appear to be so numerous that separate suits would unduly burden the courts and a class action would clearly be more useful and judicially expedient 0 than the other available procedures Singleton 826 So at 63 ucoting 2d Cotton 691 So at 769 Such is clearly not the case here The record 2d indicates that there are approximately ten interestedpotentially aggrieved persons The burden was on plaintiffs to make a prima facie showing that a sufficiently numerous and definable group of aggrieved persons existed such that joinder of their claims would be impractical See Boyd 898 So 2d at 463 Hampton 730 So at 1096 Mere speculation that a large number 2d of people living within a certain neighborhood were possibly exposed to excessive dust does not equate to the establishment of a large group of aggrieved or injured people See Carr v Houma RediMix Concrete Co Inc 961548 La App 1 Cir 11 705 So 213 215 writ denied 97 10 2d 98 0743 La 5 718 So 416 98 1 2d We agree with the trial court finding that plaintiffs did not meet their s burden of proving numerosity and we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying class action certification in this case There was insufficient evidence in the record to demonstrate that the proposed class representatives actually represent a sufficiently large number of persons within a definable geographic area who were aggrieved by the allegedly excessive dust on the Lopez Street resurfacing project and who desire to assert claims against BOH Under these circumstances a class action would be inefficient and unnecessary however if the facts presented to the trial court change class certification can be reurged Id CONCLUSION We affirm the trial court judgment denying plaintiffs motion to s certify a class action Plaintiffs are cast with all costs of this appeal AFFIRMED 7
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