Court Denies Class Certification in Teflon MDL

The United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has rejected a petition to appeal a ruling denying certification of all proposed classes in the Teflon products liability MDL.  Plaintiffs had sought to certify classes of persons who owned cookware with DuPont non-stick coatings.  The MDL Court denied certification on several alternative grounds, including that class membership could not be determined without speculation or lengthy individual inquiries, that individual rather than common issues predominated, and that plaintiffs primarily sought money rather than injunctive relief.  Representing DuPont in the MDL Court and on appeal were Adam Hoeflich, Sean Gallagher, Kaspar Stoffelmayr, Rebecca Weinstein Bacon, Carolyn Frantz, and Martha Pacold.