Suffolk County Water Authority v. Dow Chemical Co.

44 Misc. 3d 569, 987 N.Y.S.2d 819
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJune 16, 2014
StatusPublished

This text of 44 Misc. 3d 569 (Suffolk County Water Authority v. Dow Chemical Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Suffolk County Water Authority v. Dow Chemical Co., 44 Misc. 3d 569, 987 N.Y.S.2d 819 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Emily Pines, J.

Defendants, The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), sued in this case as a manufacturer of perchloroethylene (perc or PCE), and R.R. Street & Co. (Street), sued as an exclusive distributor of perc and as a manufacturer of a perc-containing product, move to dismiss the plaintiff Suffolk County Water Authority’s (SCWA) complaint, as amended, pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7) or for alternative relief under CPLR 3211 (c). The SCWA opposes the motion.

The basis for the current motion lies in the admitted inability of the SCWA to identify each precise defendant whose allegedly defective product injured the plaintiff and how the conduct of such party was the “cause-in-fact” of such injury. In its now [571]*571amended complaint, the Suffolk County Water Authority asserts what is known as “market share liability” with regard to the chemical manufacturing defendants in this case based upon, inter alia, the plaintiff’s assertion that identification of the exact defendant whose product caused the environmental property damage alleged is impossible.

Defendants contend that the use of the market share collective liability concept has been approved in only one instance in the State of New York — in the case of Hymowitz v Eli Lilly & Co. (73 NY2d 487 [1989]). As set forth by Dow and Street, the Court of Appeals in Hymowitz permitted the use of market share liability in a unique instance where injured plaintiffs were unable to prove which manufacturer of DES actually made the product taken by their mothers and allowed several liability to be imposed on all market participants according to the share each contributed to DES sold for use during pregnancy. However, these defendants assert that such was not the only basis for the unique holding in Hymowitz. Rather, they state that the Court of Appeals cautioned: “[t]he DES situation is a singular case, with manufacturers acting in a parallel manner to produce an identical, generically marketed product, which causes injury many years later, and which has evoked a legislative response reviving previously barred actions.” (Hymowitz at 508.) Moreover, defendants assert that in Hymowitz, the manufacturers only contributed to the risk involved as the pill itself was the only causative agent, and no issues of fact were presented to the court in that case regarding product misuse by patients, physicians or pharmacists. In a later case, the Court of Appeals, therefore, as per the defendants, rejected use of the market share approach in Hamilton v Beretta U.S.A. Corp. (96 NY2d 222 [2001]). The Court denied application of the approach in that case brought by shooting victims against handgun manufacturers stating that

“[e]ach manufacturer engaged in different marketing activities that allegedly contributed to the illegal handgun market in different ways and to a different extent. Plaintiffs made no attempt to establish the relative fault of each manufacturer, but instead sought to hold them all liable based simply on market share. . . .
“Defendants engaged in widely-varied conduct creating varied risks. Thus, a manufacturer’s share of the national handgun market does not necessar[572]*572ily correspond to the amount of risk created by its alleged tortious conduct. No case has applied the market share theory ... to such varied conduct and wisely so.” (Hamilton at 241.)

Thus, the defendants argue that the SCWA’s claims in its amended complaint are not limited to manufacture and sale of PCE to dry cleaners, but, also include allegations of improper marketing and negligent failure to provide appropriate instructions and warnings regarding the use of perc as well as its disposal — actions which are not uniform in the manner of manufacture of DES. Moreover, defendants state that plaintiff has now asserted liability by these manufacturers, which have sold and marketed their product to differing industries, opening the issue of differences among the various means and methods by which perc contamination could occur.

According to defendants, the most significant distinction between this case and Hymowitz lies in the fact that it is undisputed that control of risk of perc contamination extends well beyond any conduct of manufacturers to include: (1) independent distributors responsible for dissemination of product literature and safe delivery of the chemical; (2) manufacturers of dry cleaning machines designed to use perc products; (3) property owners who exercise control over activities on their property; (4) dry cleaners who operate the equipment and dispose of PCE; and (5) myriad other users of PCE such as industrial facilities and individual homeowners who use it to clean septic tanks. The defendants cite Brenner v American Cyanamid Co. (263 AD2d 165 [4th Dept 1999]), where the Court rejected the market share approach in a case against manufacturers of lead pigment used in paints. The Court, in Brenner, as per defendants herein, distinguished causation of harm from lead paint where the control of risk was shared among the pigment manufacturers and paint manufacturers, as well as owners and landlords of residential properties, who controlled risk through maintenance practices:

“A fourth factor considered by the Court in Hymowitz was the exclusive control of DES manufacturers over any risk produced by their product. . . . [0]wners and landlords of residences had control of some of the risk posed by lead-based paint, which becomes hazardous when it peels and flakes and is then ingested or the dust inhaled. Owners and landlords could control such risk by proper maintenance of their property. Furthermore, manufactur[573]*573ers of DES intended that their product be ingested by pregnant women to prevent miscarriages. In contrast, white lead carbonate or lead-based paint is not intended for ingestion and obviously was not marketed for such a use.” (.Brenner at 172-173.)

Thus, as per the holding in Brenner, defendants assert that this court is indeed bound to reject the market share approach by SCWA.

Defendants point to more areas distinguishing the current case from Hymowitz. These include the assertion that market sales of perc cannot be apportioned as with DES by identifying uniform conduct over a discrete period of time, as the SCWA has failed to identify when the contamination occurred. In addition, there has been no legislative signal to provide a tort remedy as there was in the DES situation. Further, defendants assert that as in Hamilton, the SCWA’s claims against PCE manufacturers are not limited to the simple manufacture of goods, but also include negligent failure to provide appropriate warnings regarding the use of the chemical.

Finally, the moving defendants argue that even if the court were inclined to apply the market share approach in this case, the SCWA has failed to establish the very first condition precedent — i.e., that following exhaustive discovery, conventional proof of product identification is impossible. In this regard, defendants note that the plaintiff has failed to notice the depositions of many dry cleaners or distributors nor conducted interviews of the same.

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Related

In Re "Agent Orange" Product Liability Litigation
597 F. Supp. 740 (E.D. New York, 1984)
Hamilton v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp.
750 N.E.2d 1055 (New York Court of Appeals, 2001)
Leon v. Martinez
638 N.E.2d 511 (New York Court of Appeals, 1994)
Hymowitz v. Eli Lilly & Co.
539 N.E.2d 1069 (New York Court of Appeals, 1989)
Breytman v. Olinville Realty, LLC
54 A.D.3d 703 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2008)
Hallman v. Kantor
72 A.D.3d 895 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2010)
Rietschel v. Maimonides Medical Center
83 A.D.3d 810 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2011)
Endless Ocean, LLC v. Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo
113 A.D.3d 587 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2014)
Brenner v. American Cyanamid Co.
263 A.D.2d 165 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
44 Misc. 3d 569, 987 N.Y.S.2d 819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/suffolk-county-water-authority-v-dow-chemical-co-nysupct-2014.