Anaya

These two petitions, considered together for convenience, present the question of whether numerous employees of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation and their family members must sue separately for injuries alleged to have been caused by industrial contamination, Code of Civil Procedure section 378 permits joinder of plaintiffs if they assert any right to relief “arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences and if any question of law or fact common to all these persons will arise in the action; ...” We conclude that the trial court erred in finding a misjoinder of plaintiffs.

Petitioners filed two lawsuits, one brought by some 218 husbands and wives seeking damages for exposure to 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP) in a fertilizer and agricultural chemicals manufacturing facility, the other brought by 16 children of parents exposed to the chemical. The complaints alleged a course of conduct engaged in by the various defendants over the course of 20 to 30 years exposing male employees and, through the employees, their wives and children to the hazardous effects of the chemical.

Defendants, real parties in interest in this…