Alexander
Alexander v. Exxon Mobil
Opinion
Opinion
Zelon, J.
INTRODUCTION
In April of 2010, over 700 plaintiffs filed a toxic tort action alleging injury from exposure to environmental contamination at a low-income housing complex constructed on a former oil storage facility. Defendants filed a demurrer arguing that the action was time-barred because the allegations in the complaint demonstrated plaintiffs knew, or should have known, of the environmental contamination several years before filing suit. The trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend against a subset of approximately 100 plaintiffs who admitted receiving notice of the contamination in 2007. The court concluded that although the notices suggested the contamination was not harmful, they were nonetheless sufficient to cause a reasonably prudent person to suspect that it might be so.
Fifty-eight of the dismissed plaintiffs join in this appeal, arguing that whether their causes of action accrued at the time they received notice of the environmental contamination raises a question of fact that is not amendable to resolution on demurrer. We agree and reverse the trial court’s order of dismissal.