美國環境侵權集團訴訟關於「集團」適格之確認

Certifi cation on the Qualifi cation of the Class for the US Environmental Class Action

10.6509/TLM.2016.6708.07

章武生(Wu-Sheng Zhang)；廖海清(Hai-Qing Liao)

環境侵權 ； 集團訴訟 ； 和解型集團確認 ； 非和解型集團確認 ； 子集團劃分 ； Environmental Tort ； Class Action ； Certifi cation of Settlement Class Action ； Certifi cation of Non-Settlement Class Action ； Division of Sub-Class

法令月刊

67卷8期（2016 / 08 / 01）

177 - 189

繁體中文

在以Gates為代表的湖村居民訴摩丁製造公司和羅門哈斯公司環境集團訴訟案中，兩個案件的環境因素相同，且均由同一法官審理。但在摩丁製造公司的和解案中，法官確認了該集團，在羅門哈斯集團案中，法院駁回了原告確認集團的主張。出現這樣的反差，與和解型集團訴訟中和解是原被告共同追求的結果，被告不會對集團確認提出異議，法官將主要精力用於確認和解協定的公正性上有關。在非和解集團訴訟案件的確認上，當事人間對抗性很強，集團能否確認是雙方爭議的焦點，法官是根據當事人雙方提出的理由和證據，嚴格根據《美國聯邦程式規則》（Federal Rules of Civil Procedure）第23條規定的集團訴訟確認的先決條件和維持條件來衡量集團是否成立。

On Glenn Gates, et al., v. Rohn and Hass Group and Modine Manufacturing Company in the state of Illinois of America, the presiding judge is the same person who is from United States Districts Court in E.D. Pennsylvania, and the environmental factors are basically the same. In the settlement class action of Glenn Gates, et al., v. Modine Manufacturing Company, the presiding judge granted the certification of the class, however, the motion for the class certification in Glenn Gates, et al., v. Rohn and Hass Group was denied by the presiding judge. The reasons for such different results are settlement is the mutual goal for both parties in the settlement class action, the defendant will not object to the class certification and the judges will put more efforts on determining whether or not the proposed settlement agreement is justifiable. While for the class actions where no settlement are proposed at the commencement of the suit, the antagonism between the parties is relatively strong, the key issue is whether the class shall be certified or not, so the judges will review the grounds and evidence from both parties and rule on the class certification issue strictly following the prerequisites and maintaining requirements set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 23.

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