Appeals Court Lets Stand Rocketdyne Suit’s Status

A federal appeals court has refused to intervene in a class-action lawsuit against Rocketdyne, which is accused of damaging neighboring properties with rocket-engine and nuclear research at its Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

The failure of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to decertify a class-action suit against Boeing North American, Rocketdyne’s parent company, means that lawyers can mail up to 500,000 letters notifying potential members of the class. The court’s decision was made public Wednesday.

Lawyers for Boeing had asked the appeals court to review U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins’ decision to grant class certification to the plaintiffs, which allowed the 150 plaintiffs named in the suit to act as surrogates for thousands of others. The higher court declined to hear the mid-case appeal altogether, thus allowing Collins’ decision to stand.

Collins told lawyers in October to delay notifying other potential plaintiffs pending the higher court’s decision on the long-shot appeal.

Class certification was a technical ruling that allowed plaintiffs to be heard en masse--raising the stakes of the lawsuit--but it is not a decision on the case’s merits.

The case contends that the rocket-engine testing that propelled America’s space race also fouled the air, water, soil and property of neighbors and could compromise their health as well.

The suit, which could last for years, involves Rocketdyne’s open-air, 2,700-acre Santa Susana Field Lab in the rugged mountains between Simi Valley and Chatsworth, plus another three facilities in the west San Fernando Valley.