Town of Lexington v. Pharmacia Corp.

133 F. Supp. 3d 258, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127670, 2015 WL 5610811
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedSeptember 23, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 12-11645
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 133 F. Supp. 3d 258 (Town of Lexington v. Pharmacia Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of Lexington v. Pharmacia Corp., 133 F. Supp. 3d 258, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127670, 2015 WL 5610811 (D. Mass. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CASPER, United States District Judge

I. Introduction

Plaintiff Town of Lexington (“Lexington”) has filed this lawsuit against Defendants Pharmacia Corporation (“Pharma-cia”), Solutia, Inc. and Monsanto Company for (1) breach of implied warranty of merchantability based on design defect; (2) breach of implied warranty of merchantability based on failure to warn; and (3) violation of Mass. Gen. L. c. 93A. D. 1. Pharmacia has moved for summary judgment. D. 140. For the reasons stated below, the Court ALLOWS the motion.

II. Standard of Review

The Court grants summary judgment where there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the undisputed facts demonstrate that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). “A fact is material if it carries-with it the potential to affect the outcome of the suit under applicable law.” Santiago-Ramos v. Centennial P.R. Wireless Corp., 217 F.3d 46, 52 (1st Cir.2000) (quoting Sánchez v. Alvarado, 101 F.3d 223, 227 (1st Cir.1996)). The movant bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Carmona v. Toledo, 215 F.3d 124, 132 (1st Cir.2000); see Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). If the movant meets its burden, the non-moving party may not rest on the allega[261]*261tions or denials in her pleadings, Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986), but “must, with respect to each issue on which she would bear the burden of proof at trial, demonstrate that a trier of fact could reasonably resolve that issue in her favor.” Borges ex rel. S.M.B.W. v. Serrano-Isern, 605 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.2010). “As a general rule, that requires the production of evidence that is ‘significantly] probative.’ ” Id. (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505) (alteration in original). The Court “view[s] the record in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, drawing reasonable inferences in his favor.” Noonan v. Staples, Inc., 556 F.3d 20, 25 (1st Cir.2009).

III.Factual Background

Lexington brought this action seeking recovery for environmental remediation of property damage allegedly suffered because of the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”), which were banned by Congress as of 1979, in the indoor air of the Estabrook Elementary School (“Esta-brook”). D. 1 ¶¶ 30, 37-38. Lexington alleges that PCBs were present in the caulk used at Estabrook and at some point they leaked into the school indoor air. D. 232 at 4. Pharmacia, in its previous- incarnation, sold PCBs to intermediaries who then used them to manufacture caulk and other building materials. Id. at 3. Lexington contends that Pharmacia was “the near-exclusive source of all PCBs used in the United States” during the relevant time period and thus is responsible for the property damage they allegedly caused. Id. at 2.

In September 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued guidelines regarding advised limits on PCB levels in school indoor air and recommending testing for PCBs in schools built or renovated between 1950 and 1978. Id. at 3. Parents of school children in Lexington raised the issue of PCB contamination with the school district. Id. Lexington decided to conduct environmental testing in its schools to determine whether PCBs were present. Id. at 4. The testing at Estabrook revealed PCB levels in caulk at levels above federal regulations and that the PCB levels in the indoor air at Esta-brook exceeded the limits indicated in the EPA guidelines released in September 2009. Id. Lexington then embarked on a remediation project at Estabrook, the costs of which it now seeks to recover from Pharmacia and its co-defendants. D. 1 ¶¶ 52, 55.

IV. Procedural History

On September 4, 2012, Lexington brought this suit alleging that it sustained property damage due to Pharmaeia’s breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and violation of Mass. Gen. L. c. 93A. D. 1. The defendants moved to dismiss, D. 22, and for a more definite statement, D. 24. The Court denied both motions. D. 53 (adopting report and recommendations of Judge Boal, D. 48). Pharma-cia has now moved for summary judgment. D. 140. The Court held a hearing on the pending motion and took the matter under advisement. D. 295.

V. Discussion

A. Design Defect

A plaintiff asserting a breach of warranty claim must show “(1) that the defendant manufactured or sold the product; (2) that a defect or unreasonably dangerous condition existed at the time the product left the defendant’s hands so that it was not reasonably suitable for the ordinary uses for which goods of that kind were sold; (3) that at the time of [its] injury, the plaintiff was using the product in the manner that the defendant intended [262]*262or that could reasonably be foreseen; and (4) that the defect or unreasonably defective condition ... was a legal cause of the plaintiffs injury.” Alves v. Mazda Motor of Am., Inc., 448 F.Supp.2d 285, 300 (D.Mass.2006) (quoting Lally v. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, 45 Mass.App.Ct. 317, 337, 698 N.E.2d 28 (1998)). Pharmacia argues that Lexington’s case is lacking as to a showing that Pharmacia manufactured the PCBs found at Estabrook, evidence of a design defect in PCBs and the existence of a cognizable injury.

1. Identification of the Manufacturer of the PCBs at Estabrook

Pharmacia first argues that Lexington cannot identify Pharmacia as the manufacturer of the PCBs discovered at Esta-brook. D. 147 at 2-3, 13; D. 278 at 5-6. Lexington has no direct evidence that Pharmacia produced the PCBs used in Es-tabrook’s caulking, but Lexington points to evidence that Pharmacia was the sole domestic source of PCBs during the relevant time period. D. 232 at 7. Lexington also relies upon the conclusion of its rebuttal expert Fan Li (“Li”) that “the probability that PCBs contained in caulk used in the school buildings built or renovated between 1950 and 1978 in Massachusetts ... were produced by [Pharmacia] is at least 97.8%:"1 D. 232 at 7; D. 232-1 at 44 ¶ 2.

One problem with Lexington’s proffer is that Li is designated as a rebuttal expert and thus not as evidence in Lexington’s case in chief. Maraj v. Massachusetts, 953 F.Supp.2d 325, 328 (D.Mass.2013). The Court concludes, however, that even without Li’s opinion and construing the undisputed facts in Lexington’s favor, Pharmacia’s acknowledged dominance of the domestic market provides sufficient evidentiary support for Lexington’s contention that Pharmacia manufactured the PCBs.

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Related

City of San Jose v. Monsanto Co.
231 F. Supp. 3d 357 (N.D. California, 2017)
Town of Princeton v. Monsanto Co., Solutia
202 F. Supp. 3d 181 (D. Massachusetts, 2016)

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Bluebook (online)
133 F. Supp. 3d 258, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127670, 2015 WL 5610811, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-lexington-v-pharmacia-corp-mad-2015.