Thousands of hurricane victims, who had filed a lawsuit seeking damages for their alleged exposure to a toxic chemical while living in emergency housing provided by the federal government, have been denied class action status by a federal judge.
The emergency housing began to be provided to victims after violent Gulf Coast storms in 2005.
Victims of Katrina and Rida, from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas have filed hundreds of lawsuits over the past three years against the federal government and several manufacturers of these housing trailers.
Allegedly, the trailers contain an excessive amount of formaldehyde that has caused its residents to fall sick. The chemical is permitted by law in limited quantities as a preservatice on plywood and other building materials. However, the victims allege that the levels of formaldehyde used for the mobile homes were unhealthy.
The federal court attempted to consolidate the cases in one court last year.This was the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. This was done since several of the cases had common issues.
In October, attorneyss representing the plaintiffs filed motions seeking class action status. That would have resulted in a single trial to settle all the cases. However, in Monday's judgement, Judge Kurt Englehardt refused to allow class action status since the number of plaintiffs and multiple defendants as well as the varying state laws made the cases impossible to consolidate.
To read more about the case click here.
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