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Judge rejects class-action status in toxic trailers suit

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge on Monday refused to grant class-action

status to

lawsuits claiming thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims were exposed to

potentially

toxic fumes in government-issued trailers.

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ruled that a batch of lawsuits on behalf

of hundreds

of plaintiffs against the federal government and several trailer manufacturers

cannot be

handled as a class-action because each person's claim is unique and must be

examined

individually.

Government tests found elevated levels of formaldehyde in many of the

trailers that

housed victims of Katrina and Rita after those powerful hurricanes clobbered the

Gulf

Coast in 2005. Formaldehyde is a preservative that can cause breathing problems

and is

classified as a carcinogen.

Lawyers for the storm victims accuse trailer makers of using shoddy

materials and

building methods in a rush to meet the government's demand for emergency housing

for

the displaced. The attorneys had argued that a class-action lawsuit would

efficiently

resolve all the cases from Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama that

Engelhardt is

presiding over in New Orleans.

But the judge said the cases involve hundreds of trailer models made by

dozens of

companies and occupied by people with varying medical histories and symptoms.

Tony Buzbee, one of the lead lawyers for plaintiffs, said he respects the

judge's decision

but hasn't ruled out an appeal.

" What it means is that we will try each of these cases individually, " he

said. " We're very

excited about moving past this phase and getting some of this evidence before a

jury. "

The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided trailers to more than

144,000

families displaced by the 2005 hurricanes.

About a year ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested

the air

quality in hundreds of occupied trailers and found formaldehyde levels that

were, on

average, about five times higher than what people are exposed to in most homes.