Norton Rose Fulbright secures win in Houston Court of Appeals

Norton Rose Fulbright prevailed for a water management and solutions company when the Houston Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a trial court’s class certification order. The trial court previously certified a class of Texas residents who alleged that defective water control valves from the company caused their water softening and filtration systems to fail.

Appellate lawyers from Norton Rose Fulbright’s Dallas office argued the case to the Houston Court of Appeals in April 2024. On August 30, 2024, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the class certification order on grounds that the trial court did not adequately address whether the client’s defenses created individualized issues that would predominate at trial.

The opinion emphasized that review of certification issues is more stringent than the ordinary abuse of discretion standard, that the trial court must “respond to the defendants’ legitimate protests of individualized issues that could preclude class treatment,” and that a trial plan is an important part of this analysis and “not a mere formality.” The opinion also discussed the individualized issues raised by some of the client’s defenses—including differences between the warranties customers received and differences between how the filters were installed on-site—and said that without more analysis in the certification order, the court was “unable to judge” whether common issues would predominate. 

The opinion strongly implies that on remand, the trial court needs to take each of the client’s individualized defenses and either “require [its] resolution before certification” or explain how “to address [it] during trial (e.g., as part of subclasses).”