Fisher v. Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation
United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama
245 F.R.D. 539 (S.D. Ala. 2007)
Five plaintiffs sued current and former owners of Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation (defendants), alleging DDT from Ciba's plant contaminated their individual properties. The court had already denied class certification because common questions did not predominate over individualized ones. The defendants moved to sever the case into five separate trials, arguing a single trial would be inefficient and prejudicial, even though the same nine expert witnesses -- all living out of state -- would likely testify with respect to each plaintiff's claim.
Whether severance of a multi-plaintiff lawsuit into individual trials is warranted under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure if a single trial would be more efficient than multiple trials, the claims arise from the same transaction, and any potential prejudice to the defendants can be averted through appropriate jury instructions.