A federal judge on Tuesday granted class-action status to a lawsuit filed against Exxon Mobil as a result of a pipeline accident that spilled tens of thousands of gallons of heavy crude into a Mayflower neighborhood last year.
Judge Brian Miller, ruling in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, said Arnez and Charletha Harper can legally represent people who currently own property that is subject to an easement for the oil giant's Pegasus pipeline and that is physically crossed by the pipeline running from Corsicana, Texas, to Patoka, Ill.
The lawsuit seeks either cancellation of the easements and removal of the pipeline from their property or a requirement that Exxon replace the pipeline.
The number of property owners potentially affected by the ruling was not known late Tuesday.
Little Rock attorney Phillip Duncan, one of the attorneys representing the Harpers, said he did not want to discuss the details of the case but noted that there were "numerous" such people with property along the northernmost stretch of pipeline that runs almost 650 miles.
An Exxon Mobil spokesman had not provided a requested comment on behalf of the company by press time.
Miller ruled that two other plaintiffs in the lawsuit -- Rudy and Betty Webb, who live in Conway but own property in Mayflower -- could not represent the class action because the pipeline does not cross their property.
Duncan said the pipeline, built in 1947-48, was "within probably inches" of the Webbs' property but not directly on it. "The easement was on their property," he said.
In the ruling, Miller noted that neither the Webbs' nor the Harpers' property suffered damage because of the March 29, 2013, pipeline rupture that Exxon Mobil has said sent an estimated 210,000 gallons of thick crude into the Northwoods subdivision, drainage ditches and a cove of Lake Conway. The cleanup continues.
The company shut down the entire 850-mile-long pipeline after the accident. A 211-mile section in Texas only recently resumed operation.
Exxon Mobil had argued against class-action status.
The company had contended that the plaintiffs' efforts to remove or replace the pipeline were an attempt to "'usurp the exclusive authority of the federal government to regulate interstate pipelines,'" Miller wrote.
"All plaintiffs are attempting to do, however, is to enforce their easement contracts via a common law breach of contract claim, which speaks to the larger issue of whether the easement itself can continue to exist," he added. "While their pleadings do characterize the pipeline as unsafe, plaintiffs make no reference to any state law standards regarding safety that would raise questions of PSA [federal Pipeline Safety Act] preemption."
The judge found that common issues shared by class members, according to the plaintiffs, were whether Exxon Mobil failed to operate and maintain the pipeline properly and whether such failure constituted breach of the easement contracts.
"The answers to these questions are central to the validity of all class members' claims, and will provide class-wide resolution," he wrote.
The class will not include people who owned property subject to a Pegasus easement on the day of the spill but have since sold it. Nor will it include people such as the Webbs who have property subject to a Pegasus easement but not touched by the pipeline.
The judge also said a class-action lawsuit was "preferable to the potential of hundreds of separate suits being filed against Exxon."
"Granting class certification is preferable to the potential of each of the landowners attempting to bring suit individually, as it will reduce both costs and the use of judicial resources," he wrote.
The federal Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has proposed that Exxon Mobil pay a total of $2,659,200 in fines for nine "probable" violations of safety regulations as a result of the government's investigation after the Mayflower accident. Exxon Mobil has appealed. No decision has been announced yet.
State Desk on 08/13/2014