Fox Smith has been defending an oil company with regard to a pipeline leak that allegedly released over 100,000 gallons of gasoline into a neighborhood in Kankakee, Illinois. The Plaintiffs recently asked the court to certify a class to determine common issues relating to personal injuries they allege from the spill, including a novel theory involving impacts on human DNA. Richard Korn, Erika Reynolds and John Smith worked on the extensive briefing and argument in opposition to the motion. On January 18, 2012, the court denied plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification, and also granted summary judgment as to all personal injury claims except those of two plaintiffs. So, the case will now proceed on behalf of two individuals, rather than on behalf of a class of hundreds of people. This decision is significant not only in ruling that the proposed issues class could not be certified under Illinois law, but also in that the Court refused to recognize Plaintiffs’ novel DNA theory.