Sanderson v. International Flavors & Fragrances

United States District Court · Torts

TortsCausationExpert testimonyMarket-share liabilityAlternative liabilitySummary judgmentDaubertsubstantial factor

Facts

Plaintiff alleged personal injuries from exposure to fragrance products, including sinus inflammation, toxic encephalopathy, dysosmia, small airways disease, and multiple chemical sensitivity. She claimed acute formaldehyde exposures in earlier decades caused injury and that thousands of later fragrance exposures exacerbated those injuries; she alleged more than 16,000 fragrance exposures from 1994 to 1995, but could not identify the product involved in about 70 percent of them. She testified to only 22 to 32 exposures to the two products linked to IFF, Boss and Drakkar Noir. Plaintiff's experts opined generally that fragrance products or aldehydes caused or exacerbated her condition, but none could identify any particular fragrance product or exposure as causing any particular injury, and the experts admitted that not every exposure caused injury and that different aldehydes have different health effects.

Issue

Whether plaintiff presented admissible expert evidence sufficient to create a triable issue that any particular defendant's fragrance products were a substantial factor in causing her injuries. Also, whether plaintiff could avoid that failure of product-specific causation proof by shifting the burden of causation under a modified version of Summers or Sindell, and whether her causation experts were admissible under Daubert.

Rule

In a California personal injury action involving scientific issues beyond lay experience, causation must be proved within a reasonable medical probability by competent expert testimony, and the defendant's conduct must be shown to be a substantial factor in causing the injury; mere possibility is insufficient. A plaintiff cannot shift the causation burden under Summers unless all potentially responsible tortfeasors are joined, and cannot invoke Sindell market-share liability unless the injury-producing product is fungible and the plaintiff has joined a substantial share of the relevant market. Expert scientific testimony is inadmissible unless the proponent shows both reliability through objective, independent scientific validation and fit to the pertinent causation inquiry.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In San Diego, Elena Ruiz sued North Bay Aroma Labs after alleging chronic respiratory and cognitive injuries from repeated exposure to dozens of scented cleaning products used in office buildings. Her toxicology expert testified that scented cleaning products as a class probably caused or worsened her condition, but could not identify any product made by North Bay Aroma Labs as causing any particular injury and admitted that not every exposure causes injury.

North Bay moves for summary judgment on causation. How should the court rule?

Explanation. Where scientific causation is beyond lay experience, the plaintiff must present competent expert testimony establishing within a reasonable medical probability that the particular defendant's conduct was a substantial factor in causing the injury. Testimony that products in a broad category caused harm, without tying any injury to this defendant's product, shows only a mere possibility and is insufficient.