PROJECT 3
CASE DESCRIPTION:
This proposed class action involved property owners located over an alleged groundwater contamination plume emanating from a Raytheon facility in St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida. The owners of the proposed class properties, which included single-family homes, condominiums and commercial properties, claimed that their property values were diminished by Raytheon’s alleged release of toxic chemicals into the groundwater.
RESULTS:
“Defendants, in turn, challenged [opposing expert’s] methodology for defining the impacted area, or really the putative class, as “inconsistent with applicable professional standards.” [opposing expert’s] area of impact apparently encompassed many properties on which no contamination had been detected at all. Raytheon also introduced its damages expert, Dr. Thomas O. Jackson. Dr. Jackson’s report stated that the Plaintiffs’ expert’s “proposed method of analysis of property value diminution using mass appraisal/regression modeling would be unacceptable for this purpose, and would not eliminate the need to evaluate each property in the proposed class area on an individual basis.” Mass Tort Defense, Sean P. Wajert, Shook, Hardy and Bacon L.L.P., March 2011