Lester v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

• Decision Date: 09 January 2018
• Docket Number: No. 14-31383,14-31383
• Parties: Warren LESTER ; Alfreda Marshall; David Quinn; Demetria Sterling; Dawn Humphries; et al., Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION; Chevron USA, Incorporated; Joseph Grefer; Camille Grefer; Rosemarie Grefer Haase; Henry Grefer; OFS, Incorporated; Intracoastal Tubular Services, Incorporated; Rathborne Properties, L.L.C.; Rathborne Land Company, L.L.C. ; Rathborne Companies, L.L.C.; Alpha Technical Services, Incorporated; Shell Oil Company; Shell Offshore, Incorporated; BP America Production Company, formerly known as Amoco Production Company; Varco, L.P.; Texaco, Incorporated; Union Oil Company of California; ConocoPhillips Company; Marathon Oil Company; Freeport McMoran, Incorporated; IMC Global, Incorporated; Exchange Oil & Gas Company; Kerr–McGee Oil and Gas Corporation; Torch Energy Services, Incorporated; Torch Operating Company; French Jordan, Incorporated, doing business as Shield Coat, Incorporated ; Placid Oil Company ; Rosewood Resources, Incorporated; Dynamic Explorations, Incorporated; Certain Underwriters At Lloyds London; Certain London Market Insurance Companies; Hydril Company, Incorporated; Oilfield Testers, Incorporated; KBR, Incorporated; McDermott, Incorporated; Bredero Price Company, Defendants–Appellees. Shirley Bottley; Jovane Benoit; Juajuan Benoit, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. Exxon Mobil Corporation; Exxon Mobil Oil Corporation; Humble Oil & Refining Company ; Humble Oil & Refining Corporation ; Chevron USA, Incorporated; BP Corporation North America, Incorporated; Devon Energy Production Company, L.P.; ConocoPhillips Company; Shell Oil Company; Marathon Oil Company; Oxy, Incorporated; Varco, L.P.; Intracoastal Tubular Services, Incorporated; BP America Production Company, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

879 F.3d 582

Warren LESTER ; Alfreda Marshall; David Quinn; Demetria Sterling; Dawn Humphries; et al., Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION; Chevron USA, Incorporated; Joseph Grefer; Camille Grefer; Rosemarie Grefer Haase; Henry Grefer; OFS, Incorporated; Intracoastal Tubular Services, Incorporated; Rathborne Properties, L.L.C.; Rathborne Land Company, L.L.C. ; Rathborne Companies, L.L.C.; Alpha Technical Services, Incorporated; Shell Oil Company; Shell Offshore, Incorporated; BP America Production Company, formerly known as Amoco Production Company; Varco, L.P.; Texaco, Incorporated; Union Oil Company of California; ConocoPhillips Company; Marathon Oil Company; Freeport McMoran, Incorporated; IMC Global, Incorporated; Exchange Oil & Gas Company; Kerr–McGee Oil and Gas Corporation; Torch Energy Services, Incorporated; Torch Operating Company; French Jordan, Incorporated, doing business as Shield Coat, Incorporated ; Placid Oil Company ; Rosewood Resources, Incorporated; Dynamic Explorations, Incorporated; Certain Underwriters At Lloyds London; Certain London Market Insurance Companies; Hydril Company, Incorporated; Oilfield Testers, Incorporated; KBR, Incorporated; McDermott, Incorporated; Bredero Price Company, Defendants–Appellees.

Shirley Bottley; Jovane Benoit; Juajuan Benoit, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.Exxon Mobil Corporation; Exxon Mobil Oil Corporation; Humble Oil & Refining Company ; Humble Oil & Refining Corporation ; Chevron USA, Incorporated; BP Corporation North America, Incorporated; Devon Energy Production Company, L.P.; ConocoPhillips Company; Shell Oil Company; Marathon Oil Company; Oxy, Incorporated; Varco, L.P.; Intracoastal Tubular Services, Incorporated; BP America Production Company, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 14-31383

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

FILED January 9, 2018

Timothy John Falcon, Esq., Jarrett Stephen Falcon, Jeremiah Alexander Mark Sprague, Esq., Falcon Law Firm, Marrero, LA, Frank M. Buck, Jr., Esq., Juan Cruz Obregon, Jackson Lewis, P.C., New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.

Martin A. Stern, Glen Marion Pilie, Esq., Adams & Reese, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees Exxon Mobil Corporation, Humble Oil & Refining Company, Humble Oil & Refining Corporation, Exxon Mobil Oil Corporation.

Michael Raudon Phillips, Esq., Shannon Shelton Cobb, Brett Patrick Fenasci, Brittany Buckley Salup, Kean Miller, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees Chevron USA, Incorporated, Texaco, Incorporated, Union Oil Company of California.

Gladstone Nathaniel Jones, III, Esq., Attorney, Jones, Swanson, Huddell & Garrison, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, Defendants–Appellees Joseph Grefer, Camille Grefer, Rosemarie Grefer Haase, Henry Grefer.

Charles Bruce Colvin, Marguerite K. Kingsmill, Kingsmill Riess, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, Raymond A. Osborn, Jr., Esq., Osborn & Osborn, Harvey, LA, for Defendant–Appellee OFS, Incorporated.

Carlton Jones, III, Louisiana State University, Office of General Counsel, Baton Rouge, LA, Defendant–Appellee Intracoastal Tubular Services, Incorporated.

Jacques F. Bezou, Bezou Law Firm, Covington, LA, John William Hite, III, Salley, Hite, Mercer & Resor, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees Rathborne Properties, L.L.C., Rathborne Land Company, L.L.C., Rathborne Companies, L.L.C.

Caleb H. Didriksen, III, Esq., Attorney, Didriksen, Saucier, Woods & Pichon, P.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendant–Appellee Alpha Technical Services, Incorporated.

Mary S. Johnson, Esq., Jill Thompson Losch, Mandeville, LA, Chadwick James Mollere, New Orleans, LA, Johnson Gray McNamara, L.L.C., for Defendants–Appellees Shell Oil Company, Shell Offshore, Incorporated, Kerr–McGee Oil and Gas Corporation, Torch Energy Services, Incorporated.

Deborah DeRoche Kuchler, Mark Edward Best, Esq., Janika D. Polk, Esq., Skylar Barbosa Rudin, Milele N. St. Julien, Senior Counsel, Kuchler Polk Weiner, L.L.C., Leigh Ann Schell, Adams & Reese, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees Shell Oil Company, Shell Offshore, Incorporated, ConocoPhillips Company.

Michele Hale DeShazo, Kuchler Polk Weiner, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees Shell Oil Company, Shell Offshore, Incorporated.

Elizabeth Haecker Ryan, Amanda Wingfield Goldman, Coats, Rose, Yale, Ryman & Lee, P.C., New Orleans, LA, Daniel F. Shank, Coats Rose, Houston, TX, for Defendant–Appellee Varco, L.P.

Richard Stuart Pabst, Esq., Tyler Ann Moore Kostal, Esq., Julie Parelman Silbert, Kean Miller, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees Marathon Oil Company, Devon Energy Production Company, L.P.

Arthur Mahony Murray, Esq., Korey Arthur Nelson, Murray Law Firm, New Orleans, LA, for Defendant–Appellee French Jordan, Incorporated, doing business as Shield Coat, Incorporated.

Mary Margaret Steele, Christoffer C. Friend, Curry & Friend, P.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees Placid Oil Company, Oxy, Incorporated.

Meghan Elizabeth Smith, Jones Walker, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, for Defendant–Appellee Placid Oil Company.

Stephen Porter Hall, Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, Defendants–Appellees Certain Underwriters at Lloyds London, Certain London Market Insurance Companies.

Georges M. Legrand, Adam Paul Sanderson, Mouledoux, Bland, Legrand & Brackett, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendant–Appellee Hydril Company, Incorporated.

Kenneth Hugh Laborde, Esq., Trial Attorney, Daniel Gibbons Rauh, Attorney, Gieger, Laborde & Laperouse, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendant–Appellee KBR, Incorporated.

James Aristide Holmes, Christovich & Kearney, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, for Defendant–Appellee Bredero Price Company.

Bettye Anne Barrios, Gavin H. Guillot, Pusateri, Johnston, Guillot & Greenbaum, L.L.C., Lauren Raili Bridges, Liskow & Lewis, P.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendants–Appellees BP Corporation North America, Incorporated, BP America Production Company.

Michael P. Cash, Esq., Wade Thomas Howard, Esq., Liskow & Lewis, Houston, TX, Joseph Ignatius Giarrusso, III, Liskow & Lewis, P.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Defendant–Appellee BP America Production Company.

Before OWEN, GRAVES, and HIGGINSON, Circuit Judges.

PRISCILLA R. OWEN, Circuit Judge:

ExxonMobil Oil Corporation removed the underlying suits as a "mass action" pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.¹ The consolidated interlocutory appeals of Warren Lester, et al. and Shirley Bottley, et al. (Plaintiffs) challenge the district court’s order denying their respective motions to remand. We affirm.

I

The Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) "applies to any civil action commenced on or after" CAFA’s effective date, February 18, 2005.² CAFA expands federal removal jurisdiction over certain class and mass actions that satisfy CAFA’s jurisdictional requirements.³ This appeal raises two issues of first impression in this circuit: (1) whether a motion to consolidate and transfer related state court suits effectuates a "mass action" removable under CAFA; and (2) if so, whether CAFA may be invoked as a basis for removal when one of the underlying suits comprising the purported mass action commenced prior to CAFA’s 2005 effective date.

The lawsuits originated in Louisiana civil district court. In 2002, over 600 plaintiffs filed a petition in Warren Lester, et al. v. Exxon Mobil Corporation , et al. alleging personal injury and property damage claims arising from naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). The state court utilized a "flighting" system to segregate the Lester plaintiffs’ claims into smaller trials or "flights." Plaintiffs claim there is no preclusive effect between flights and thus far, no flight has involved more than twelve plaintiffs.

In 2013, Shirley Bottley, Jovane Benoit, and Juajuan Benoit filed a wrongful death and survival action—Shirley Bottley et al. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., et al. —seeking to recover for injuries to and the death of Cornelius Bottley. Prior to his death, Cornelius Bottley had been a plaintiff in Lester . The Lester and Bottley plaintiffs are represented by the same counsel.

Shortly thereafter, the state court in Lester set for trial a flight of eight plaintiffs—the Louisiana Texas Oilfield Inspection Service Flight (LTOIS)—which included Cornelius Bottley’s claim. Apparently hoping to join the LTOIS flight for trial, the Bottley plaintiffs moved to transfer and consolidate their three-plaintiff suit with Lester . ExxonMobil Oil Corporation (Mobil Oil)—a named defendant only in Bottley —promptly removed both suits. Mobil Oil claimed Bottley and Lester were removable as a newly commenced mass action under CAFA.⁴ At the time of removal, over 500 plaintiffs remained in Lester .

Both the Bottley and Lester plaintiffs moved for remand asserting a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. They claimed that the Bottley plaintiffs’ consolidation motion did not give rise to a mass action, and in any event, CAFA did not provide an opportunity for removal because the Lester action was commenced prior to CAFA’s effective date. The district court denied remand, ordered Bottley consolidated with Lester , and later denied Plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration.⁵ Recognizing that its decision "resolve[d] a significant jurisdictional question," the district court advised that "it might be wise for the parties to seek Fifth Circuit review at the beginning of the long and costly process of serial trials in this matter." The Bottley and Lester plaintiffs then filed a petition for permission to appeal under 29 U.S.C. § 1292(b), and this court granted that petition.

We conclude that Mobil Oil was permitted to remove both Bottley and Lester to federal court as a mass action under CAFA.

II

CAFA authorizes the removal of "mass actions," defined as "any civil action ... in which monetary relief claims of 100 or more persons are proposed to be tried jointly on the ground that the plaintiffs’ claims involve common questions of law or fact."⁶ Excluded from that definition is any civil action in which "the claims are joined upon...