Katherine Menendez, United States Magistrate Judge.
This matter is before the Court on Swagelok Company's and San Diego Valve and Fitting Company's ("San Diego Valve") Joint Motion to Certify Question to Minnesota Supreme Court and to Stay Proceedings.
This is a products-liability case arising out of an explosion that occurred at the McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, Inc., facility in Dodge Center, Minnesota, on January 11, 2017. McNeilus manufactures large trucks for waste removal purposes that are powered by a compressed natural gas ("CNG") system, with the CNG stored in pressurized cylinders on top of the vehicles. During the manufacturing process, after the CNG trucks are painted, they are moved into a heated baking room so that the paint can cure.
On January 11, 2017, McNeilus was finishing a CNG vehicle for Waste Management, a national disposal and recycling company. Four natural gas cylinders were
At approximately 10:00 a.m., a massive explosion occurred inside the factory. Several workers were injured, two very seriously, and the facility suffered significant damage. Eemou See was the most severely injured. She and her husband, Sing See, brought this lawsuit against Swagelok and San Diego Valve under negligence and strict-liability theories for the defective design and manufacture of the hose and hose assemblies, and for failure to attach proper warnings regarding use of the equipment. The Sees allege that Swagelok and San Diego Vale defectively manufactured the hose assemblies, causing the CNG to escape the canisters. Specifically, they claim that the gas was able to escape the hose assembly because the high-pressure hose was improperly seated in a fitting. The gas came into contact with a spark in the baking room, causing the explosion.
Swagelok, San Diego Valve, and McNeilus all agree that Ms. See is not at fault for her injuries, but they dispute who among them is responsible for the explosion. Swagelok and San Diego Valve deny that their hose assemblies are defective, and filed a third-party complaint against McNeilus, alleging that McNeilus is responsible for the explosion. They contend that McNeilus unreasonably allowed the CNG truck to be brought indoors without first defueling the vehicle. They claim that the industrial heater in McNeilus' baking room raised the temperature near the CNG cylinders on the truck above 200 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended time prior to the explosion. These factors, according to Swagelok and San Diego Valve, were the cause of the explosion rather than a problem with the CNG hose. Moreover, even if they are found to be somewhat at fault, Swagelok and San Diego Valve assert that their responsibility for the harm in this case will be less than 50%.
Meanwhile, McNeilus sharply contests Swagelok and San Diego Valve's allegations. [See McNeilus Mem. at 5-7, ECF No. 136.] McNeilus argues that: (1) the hose was under-inserted into its fitting at the time of the explosion, causing the hose to separate and allowing the release of CNG; (2) testing of the non-involved end of the same hose reveals that it was also significantly under-inserted in its fitting; and (3) McNeilus has used the same process and the same oven for curing the paint in the baking room for many years at its plant with no prior instance of a CNG release in the paint building. [Id.] McNeilus, therefore, takes the position that Swagelok and San Diego Valve are fully responsible for the explosion and Ms. See's injuries. Indeed, McNeilus has filed its own complaint against Swagelok and San Diego for the damage caused to the McNeilus factory.
The Sees filed their original Complaint in November of 2017. [ECF No. 1.] On May 22, 2018, this case was consolidated with several that were filed by other McNeilus employees who were injured in the January 11, 2017 explosion. [Order Granting Consolidation (May 22, 2018).] The Court has held several status conferences with the parties to discuss the progress of the litigation, to aid in their efforts at resolution, and to resolve certain discovery disputes. This case is not in its earliest stages, and significant work has already been accomplished by the parties. Nevertheless, the schedule anticipates that there is more to be done. The deadline for completion of fact discovery is still a month
In addition to litigation, there have been meaningful efforts to resolve all of the cases arising from the explosion at McNeilus. All parties participated in two days of private mediation in January 2019 with retired Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan. Then, the Court held a global settlement conference on April 10, 2019 for the cases that were not resolved at the mediation. Although many of the cases that arose from this tragedy have now been settled, the Sees, Swagelok, and San Diego Valve were unable to come to a resolution. The day before the undersigned held the April 10th settlement conference, Swagelok and San Diego filed the pending motion to certify a question to the Minnesota Supreme Court. [ECF No. 131.]
Swagelok and San Diego Valve argue that the Court should certify the following question to the Minnesota Supreme Court:
[Defs.' Mem. at 1, ECF No. 133.] The defendants assert that they have structured their defense to demonstrate that McNeilus is solely, or at least 50%, at fault for Ms. See's injuries based on the holding of Gaudreault v. Elite Line Services, 22 F.Supp.3d 966 (D. Minn. 2014). In Gaudreault, United States District Judge Joan N. Ericksen concluded that when an injured employee sues a third-party tortfeasor, the third party is only jointly and severally liable for paying an entire award of damages "if [the third party] is found to be more than 50% at fault." Id. at 981. However, the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently reached the opposite conclusion in Fish v. Ramler Trucking, Inc., 923 N.W.2d 337 (Minn.Ct.App. 2019).
The importance of this legal question to the present litigation is obvious. If the rule followed in Gaudreault is correct, and Swagelok and San Diego Valve persuade a jury that they are less than 50% at fault, they would only be required to pay a fraction of the damages that may be awarded to the Sees. If, on the other hand, Fish states the correct rule of law, Swagelok and San Diego Valve could be required to pay the entire verdict if the jury finds them to be in any way at fault, even if they are still considerably less at fault than McNeilus. Gaudreault and Fish are at odds, and although the Minnesota Supreme Court has now granted review in Fish, it has not previously answered the question. Swagelok and San Diego Valve's joint motion asks this Court to give the Minnesota Supreme Court the chance to resolve the uncertainty created by these
Minnesota has adopted the Uniform Certification of Questions of Law Act ("QLA"). Minn. Stat. § 480.065. Pursuant to the QLA, a federal court may certify a question of law to the Minnesota Supreme Court "if the answer may be determinative of an issue in pending litigation in the certifying court and there is no controlling appellate decision, constitutional provision, or statute of [the State of Minnesota]." Minn. Stat. § 480.065, subd. 3.
If a federal court certifies a question of law, the order must include:
Id. § 480.065, subd. 6(a). The Minnesota Supreme Court is not required to accept a certified question. Id. § 480.065, subd. 3 (providing that the supreme court "may answer" a certified question); see also id. § 480.065, subd. 7 (providing for the supreme court to "notify the certifying court of acceptance or rejection of the question").
Whether to certify a question under the QLA is a question committed to the federal courts' sound discretion. See Friedlander v. Edwards Lifesciences, LLC, No. 16-CV-1747 (SRN/KMM), 2016 WL 7007489, at *1 (D. Minn. Nov. 29, 2016), ("It is clear, however, that the decision ultimately `rests in the sound discretion' of the district court.") (quoting Lehman Bros. v. Schein, 416 U.S. 386, 391, 94 S.Ct. 1741, 40 L.Ed.2d 215 (1974)), certified question answered, 900 N.W.2d 162 (Minn. 2017). The key factor is whether the federal court is "genuinely uncertain about a question of state law." Johnson v. John Deere Co., a Division of Deer & Co., 935 F.2d 151, 153 (8th Cir. 1991); Peterson v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., 409 F.Supp.2d 1139, 1144 n.2 (D. Minn. 2006) (declining to certify a question where the governing authority was "sufficiently clear to allow for our independent interpretation" of the Minnesota Civil Damages Act). In the absence of a close question, "a federal court should not avoid its responsibility to determine all issues before it." Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community v. City of Prior Lake, Minn., 771 F.2d 1153, 1157 n.2 (8th Cir. 1985). Finally, the federal courts should only use their power to certify "sparingly." Friedlander, 2016 WL 7007489, at *1.
For two reasons, the Court declines to invoke its authority to certify a question to the Minnesota Supreme Court in this case. First, the Court finds that certification of the question would be premature. The motion to certify here is premised upon the possibility that a jury
None of the cases cited by Swagelok and San Diego in their memorandum certified a question of law where the legal issue had potentially significant impact, but had not yet become ripe.
Swagelok and San Diego Valve argue that the Minnesota Supreme Court's grant of review in Fish favors certification here because it would give them a chance to present their view of the issue to be decided in that case. They claim to be entitled to a "seat at the table" for the Fish decision because of its potential importance to this case. This argument is ultimately unpersuasive. Swagelok and San Diego Valve essentially seek certification so that they can intervene and offer legal argument in the Fish appeal. However, they offer no support, and this Court is not aware of any, for the proposition that the certification procedures in the QLA may be invoked by parties in ongoing federal district court litigation who want to weigh in on a pending state court appeal. Indeed, if Swagelok and San Diego Valve were defending this case in state court, there would be no procedural mechanism for "intervening" in the Fish appeal from the discovery stage of similar, but entirely unrelated litigation. The certification statute should not be employed to create such a vehicle here.
Swagelok and San Diego Valve also argue that certification will allow the Minnesota Supreme Court to see the unfair consequences of adopting the Fish rule in a case with facts as "egregious" as this one—they posit that it would be unfair to find them liable for the entire award when their percentage of fault will likely be as low as 1%. Again, the Court is not persuaded. Not only is it sheer speculation that the apportionment of fault in this case would lead to an egregious outcome if Fish remains good law, but Fish itself presents a similarly stark factual scenario. Fish involves a jury verdict that found the third-party tortfeasor to be only 20% at fault and an employer to be 75% at fault. 923 N.W.2d at 339 ("The case was tried to a jury, which found Wells [the employer], Ramler [the third party], and Fish [the plaintiff] causally negligent and apportioned fault 75% to Wells, 20% to Ramler, and 5% to Fish."). Even without certification here, the Minnesota Supreme Court is certainly capable of imagining scenarios in which a third-party tortfeasor is assigned well under 20% fault, and the Fish rule would require payment of the entire award. There is also no indication in the record that counsel representing the third-party tortfeasor in Fish is incapable of vigorously advocating the same position that Swagelok and San Diego Valve take in this case. This is particularly true since the Minnesota Supreme Court will also have the benefit of briefing from at least two amici. Fish v. Ramler Trucking Inc., et al., No. A18-0143 (Minn. May 2, 2019) (granting amici motions of Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association and Minnesota Association for Justice), http://macsnc.courts.state.mn.us/ctrack/docket/docketEntry.do?action=edit&deID=1034125&csNameID=86884&csInstanceID=105809&csIID=105809.
Because the question Swagelok and San Diego Valve seek to certify is ultimately
For all the foregoing reasons, Swagelok and San Diego's Joint Motion to Certify Question to Minnesota Supreme Court and to Stay Proceedings [ECF No. 131] is