In re Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (\MTBE\") Products Liability Litigation"
In re Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (\MTBE\") Products Liability Litigation"
Opinion of the Court
OPINION AND ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
This is a consolidated multi-district litigation (“MDL”) relating to contamination — actual or threatened — of groundwater from various defendants’ use of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (“MTBE”) and/or tertiary butyl alcohol, a product formed by the breakdown of MTBE in water. In this case, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (“the Commonwealth”) alleges that defendants’ use and handling of MTBE has contaminated, or threatened to contaminate groundwater within its jurisdiction. Familiarity with the underlying facts is presumed for the purposes of this Order.
The Puerto Rico legislature recently enacted Law No. 53-2014 (“Law 53”), which states that “prescription does not apply to ... claims of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico relating to non-patrimonial public goods[.]” After this Court denied the Commonwealth’s motion, in response to the new law, to revise the Court’s prior orders addressing prescription, the Commonwealth now moves in accordance with Rule 25 of the Rules of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court to certify the following question regarding the interpretation of Law 53 to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court:
II. BACKGROUND
Prior to the Puerto Rico Legislature’s enactment of Law 53, this Court had two occasions to address whether the Commonwealth’s claims were subject to the defense of prescription. In both cases, I found the defense applied to the Commonwealth^ claims.
At an October 1, 2014 case management conference, the Commonwealth moved this Court to certify the above question.
III. LEGAL STANDARD
While the ability of a U.S. district court to certify a question of law to a state supreme court depends largely on the law and procedures of the state receiving the question, where the state court permits certification, the district court must exercise discretion in deciding whether certification is appropriate.
Pursuant to Rule 25 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico utilizes the following certification procedure:
[The Puerto Rico Supreme] Court may entertain any matter certified to it ... by a District Court of the United States of America ... should there exist in the petitioner court any judicial matter in*571 volving questions of Puerto Rican law that may determine the outcome of the same, and with regard to which, in the opinion of the petitioner court, there are no clear precedents in the case law of this Court.8
The Puerto Rico Supreme Court has clarified that Rule 25 is “flexible” and intended to encourage U.S. district courts and courts of appeals to certify questions to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court.
IV. DISCUSSION
A. The Commonwealth’s Argument
The Commonwealth argues that the question it asks this Court to certify meets the above criteria required by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. The Commonwealth seeks to have this question certified because the Commonwealth insists the question is of “crucial importance to the present case” and merits certification because “no clear precedent on this matter of law exists.”
The Commonwealth assures the Court that it is not seeking an advisory opinion— the disposition of the issue will resolve the application of the defense of prescription to a significant number of defendants in this case, meaning that the issue may be dispositive as to certain defendants.
B. Defendants’ Argument
Defendants oppose certification on five grounds. They argue that: (1) an answer to the question will not determine the outcome of the case; (2) Rule 25 of the Rules of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court bars the Puerto Rico Supreme Court from deciding the question; (3) clear precedents of law on this question already exist; (4) the Commonwealth’s petition is untimely and procedurally improper; and (5) this Court can reasonably predict how the Puerto Rico Supreme Court will rule (and has done so).
First, defendants contend that the question cannot be certified because it is not
Second, defendants argue that Rule 25 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico bars the Puerto Rico Supreme Court from deciding the question. This is because, according to defendants, the “Puerto Rico Supreme Court cannot answer certified questions when the issue raised refers to the constitutional validity of an act under a provision of the Constitution of the Commonwealth that is similar to a provision of the [U.S.] Constitution.”
Third, defendants insist that there are clear precedents in Puerto Rico law applicable to the Law 53 issue. Defendants cite to Ayala v. Puerto Rico Land Authority,
Fourth, defendants complain that plaintiffs’ application for certification is untimely and constitutes a request for an impermissible appellate review of this Court’s decision. The crux of defendants’ argument is that this Court has already decided the Law 53 question in its most recent ruling denying plaintiffs’ motion to revise the Court’s prior orders — the time to ask for certification of an issue is before the district court renders a decision on that issue.
Fifth, defendants believe certification is improper here because this Court can reasonably predict how the Puerto Rico Supreme Court ,will rule on this issue, and in fact has made such a prediction in its earlier decisions. Defendants urge the Court that it should “certify only when it lacks confidence in the accuracy of its prediction.”
C. Certification of the Law 53 Question Is Proper
Ultimately, pursuant to Rule 25 of the Rules of the Puerto Rico Supreme
Guzman is an important opinion because it explains the impact of the' Judiciary Act of 2003 on the Puerto Rico Supreme Court’s certification procedures, which formerly were more restrictive for parties seeking certification.
Defendants’ best legal argument is that the current rule counsels against certification because the resolution of the question requires analysis of a doctrine with a U.S. constitutional equivalent: separation of powers. Indeed, the current Rule 25 of the Rules of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court states that when “the question raised in the certification proceeding is the validity of a Puerto Rico statute, challenged under a provision of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,” the Puerto Rico Supreme Court will accept certification only “if the local Puer-to Rico constitutional provision has no equivalent in the federal Constitution.”
Defendants’ second-best argument, that the Commonwealth’s application here is untimely, is fair, but it carries little weight. To be sure, the law is clear that courts do “not look favorably on [a party] ‘trying to take two bites at the cherry by applying to the state court after failing to persuade the federal court.’ ”
Defendants’ remaining arguments are unavailing. The Puerto Rico Supreme Court, and the rules of the court, are clear that the issue to be decided does not need to be outcome-determinative for every party to the case and for every issue in the case.
In addition to the Court’s legal prerogative to certify the question, practical considerations compel certification as well. The U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged as much; “[Certification] ... “in the long run[,] save[s] time, energy, and resources and helps build a cooperative judicial federalism. Its use in a given case rests in the sound discretion of the federal court.”
V. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Commonwealth’s motion to certify the above question to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court is GRANTED. The Court will issue a separate order, containing the information required by Rule 25 of the Rules of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, directing the Clerk of Court to transmit this certification to the Clerk of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court with the relevant appendices.
SO ORDERED.
. See In re MTBE, No. 07-10470, 2013 WL 6869410 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 30, 2013); In re MTBE, 959 F.Supp.2d 476 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).
. See In re MTBE, No. 07-10470, 2014 WL 4290433 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 29, 2014).
. See 10/1/14 Conference Transcript (Doc. No. 508).
. See 10/6/14 Proposed Order and Petition for Certification to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court (“Proposed Order”) at 1.
. See Lehman Bros. v. Schein, 416 U.S. 386, 390-91, 94 S.Ct. 1741, 40 L.Ed.2d 215 (1974) (holding that a district court in the Southern District of New York was within its discretion in certifying a question of law to the Florida Supreme Court).
. DiBella v. Hopkins, 403 F.3d 102, 111 (2d Cir. 2005) (internal citation and quotation omitted).
. Casey v. Merck & Co., 653 F.3d 95, 101 (2d Cir. 2011) (internal citation and quotation omitted).
. P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 4, app. XXI-A, 25.
. Guzman v. Calderon, 164 D.P.R. 220, No. CT-2003-002, 2005 WL 756814, at *2-*3 (P.R. Mar. 23, 2005).
. Proposed Order at 5-6.
. Id. at 6.
. See id. at 2.
. 10/10/14 E-Mail from John Gilmour, counsel for plaintiffs, to the Court regarding defen-danls' opposition letter to the Proposed Order ("Defs.’ Ltr.”) ("PL Reply”).
. PL Reply (quoting Guzman, 2005 WL 756814, at *2-*3 (holding more generally that the passage of the Judiciary Act of 2003 "substantially broadened the power of [the Puerto Rico Supreme Court] to accept requests for certification made by United States courts")).
. Proposed Order at 2.
. See Defs.’ Ltr.
. See id. at 3-4 (collecting cases standing for this proposition).
. See id. at 4.
. Id. at 6-7 (quoting Cordova & Simonpietri Ins. Agency v. Crown Am. Ins. Co., 12 P.R. Office Trans. 1003, 1001, 112 D.P.R. 797 (P.R. 1982)).
.See id. at 5-6.
. 116 D.P.R. 337, 16 P.R. Offic. Trans. 414 (1985)
. Id. at 423.
. See Defs.’ Ltr. at 9.
. See id. at 9-10.
. Id. at 12 (quoting Collazo-Santiago v. Toyota Motor Corp., 937 F.Supp. 134, 138 (D.P.R. 1996)).
. Significantly, defendants never mentioned Guzman in their letter, prompting the Commonwealth to respond with an e-mail explaining defendants’ misstatement of the law and attaching the Guzman decision for the Court's review. See PL Reply.
. Guzman, 2005 WL 756814, at *2-*3 (quoting Judiciary Act of 2003).
. Id. at *3.
. P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 4, app. XXI-A, 25.
. See Guzman, 2005 WL 756814, at *2.
. Id.
. It is possible, still, that Guzman permits courts to disregard completely this provision of Rule 25 — it is unclear to me why this limitation on certification remains codified in Rule 25 if Guzman dismisses it as “overcome” with the passage of the new Judiciary Act.
. While the presence of the separation of powers argument alongside the state law argument may present a problem under Rule 25(b) — which states that the Puerto Rico Supreme Court will not accept certification when the question raised is a "mixed question” involving "aspects of federal law” in the petitioner’s court and "aspects of Puerto Rico's local law” — Guzman states that this limitation, like the conflicting constitutional provision one, has now been "overcome.” Guzman, 2005 WL 756814, at *2.
. See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 4, app. XXI-A, 25 (noting that pursuant to Rule 25 of the Rules of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court may decline to accept a question for certification if the issue presented does not meet the Rule 25 criteria).
. Casillas-Sanchez v. Ryder Mem’l Hosp., Inc., 960 F.Supp.2d 362, 364 (D.P.R. 2013) (quoting Cantwell v. University of Mass., 551 F.2d 879, 880 (1st. Cir. 1977)).
. See id.; City of Columbus v. Hotels.com, L.P., 693 F.3d 642, 654 (6th Cir. 2012) (holding denial of certification proper after issues' to be certified were resolved in a prior opinion on a motion to dismiss); Thompson v. Raul, 547 F.3d 1055, 1064 (9th Cir. 2008) (denying certification after issuing a decision on a motion to dismiss); Solis-Alarcón v. United
.Perkins, 823 F.2d at 210. It bears mentioning that here, the Court is not certifying the issue “after a case has been decided," inasmuch as asking for a review of the Law 53 issue is different from asking for a more general review of its prior orders dismissing certain defendants. The Court’s denial of a motion to revise its orders did not "decide” the case. Therefore, the Court has even more leeway to certify a question than it would under the "limited circumstances” contemplated when, as in all of defendants’ cited authorities, the case has already been fully decided.
. See Guzman, 2005 WL 756814, at *2-*3
. Defendants’ attempt to widen the scope of the issue presented and apply it to Ayala and pre-Law 53 cases is unconvincing, as is their alternative concession, in which they portray the issue to be certified as purely a separation of powers one, which it is not.
. Collazo-Santiago, 937 F.Supp. at 138.
. Lehman Bros., 416 U.S. at 390-91, 94 S.Ct. 1741.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re METHYL TERTIARY BUTYL ETHER (\MTBE\") PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION"
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published