Waste Connections wins dismissal of odor nuisance class action suit

The Eastern District of Louisiana has denied a motion for class certification in a high-stakes odor nuisance action concerning the Jefferson Parish Landfill, operated by Waste Connections Inc., the Woodlands, Texas, according to Beveridge & Diamond PC (B&D), the Washington-based environmental law firm representing Waste Connections.

The legal win caps nearly seven years of litigation, B&D says, underscoring the importance of strategic opposition to class certification in complex environmental nuisance actions.

The proposed class action suite sought to represent residents in a 42-square-mile area alleging odor nuisances spanning 30 months. The court’s comprehensive decision hinged on two crucial class certification criteria, B&D says, predominance and superiority, finding that neither requirement was satisfied.

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The decision highlighted the overly broad definition of the proposed class and the expansive time frame as core impediments to class certification, finding that wind patterns, odor emission levels and potential other sources of odors varied the plaintiffs’ degree of exposure too widely and inconsistently for the class claims to predominate.

Additionally, B&D reports, the ruling rejected the plaintiffs’ attempts to use issue classes and bifurcation strategies to support certification, reinforcing that individualized impacts and damages inherently prevented collective treatment in this context. Finally, the court found that the plaintiffs lacked a workable trial plan, which was necessary for the motion to succeed.