Henry v. Dow Chemical Company

The 173 plaintiffs in this matter have asked to represent a putative class of thousands in an action against defendant, The Dow Chemical Company. Their core allegation is that Dow’s plant in Midland, Michigan, negligently released dioxin, a synthetic chemical that is potentially hazardous to human health,1 into the Tittabawassee flood plain where the plaintiffs and the putative class members live and work.

This situation appears, at first blush, to have the makings of a standard tort cause of action. But closer inspection of plaintiffs’ motion for class certification reveals that one of…