Abdeljalil v. General Electric Capital Corp.

306 F.R.D. 303, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43288
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedMarch 26, 2015
DocketCivil No. 12cv2078 JAH (MDD)
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 306 F.R.D. 303 (Abdeljalil v. General Electric Capital Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abdeljalil v. General Electric Capital Corp., 306 F.R.D. 303, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43288 (S.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION [DOC. # 70]

JOHN A HOUSTON, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Currently pending before this Court is the motion for class certification filed by plaintiff Richard Springer1 (“plaintiff’). The motion [305]*305has been fully briefed by the parties. After a careful consideration of the pleadings and relevant exhibits submitted, and for the reasons set forth below, this Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part plaintiffs motion.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff alleges in his complaint that defendant GE Capital Retail Bank (“defendant”) violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 et seq. (“the TCPA”) when it made repeated telephone calls to plaintiff without prior consent and after instructing the calls to stop. Plaintiff originally filed his complaint on August 22, 2012, an amended complaint on September 27, 2012, a second amended complaint on October 17, 2012, and a third amended complaint (“TAC”), the operative pleading here, on August 22, 2013. Defendant filed an answer to the TAC on September 11, 2013 and filed an amended answer on November 4, 2013. Plaintiff, on April 28, 2014, filed the instant motion for class certification. The motion has been fully briefed. After a review of the pleadings presented, this Court took the motion under submission without oral argument. See CivLR 7.1(d.l).

DISCUSSION

1. Legal Standard

Whether to grant class certification is within the discretion of the court. Montgomery v. Rumsfeld, 572 F.2d 250, 255 (9th Cir. 1978). A cause of action may proceed as a class action if a plaintiff meets the threshold requirements of Rule 23(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a). In addition, a party seeking class certification must meet one of the three criteria listed in Rule 23(b).

“The class action is ‘an exception to the usual rule that litigation is conducted by and on behalf of the individual named parties only.’ ” Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, — U.S.-, 131 S.Ct. 2541, 2550, 180 L.Ed.2d 374 (2011) (quoting Califano v. Yamasaki, 442 U.S. 682, 700-01, 99 S.Ct. 2545, 61 L.Ed.2d 176 (1979)). To justify a departure from the usual rule, a plaintiff seeking class certification must satisfy all of the requirements under Rule 23(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and at least one of the categories in Rule 23(b). Wang v. Chinese Daily News, Inc., 737 F.3d 538, 542 (9th Cir.2013); United Steel, Paper & Forestry, Rubber, Mfg. Energy, Allied Indus. & Serv. Workers Int’l Union v. ConocoPhillips Co., 593 F.3d 802, 806 (9th Cir.2010). A class may be certified only “if the trial court is satisfied, after a rigorous analysis, that the prerequisites of Rule 23(a) have been satisfied.” Gen. Tel. Co. of the S.W. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 161, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982); Ellis v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 657 F.3d 970, 980 (9th Cir.2011). The class members’ substantive claims may be highly relevant in determining the propriety of certifying a class, thus the “ ‘district court must consider the merits’ if they overlap with Rule 23(a)’s requirements.” Wang, 737 F.3d at 544 (quoting Ellis, 657 F.3d at 983). “The same analytical principles govern Rule 23(b).” Comcast v. Behrend, — U.S.-, 133 S.Ct. 1426, 1432, 185 L.Ed.2d 515 (2013). Plaintiff has the burden of demonstrating both Rule 23(a) and Rule 23(b)’s requirements have been met. Zinser v. Accufix Research Inst., Inc., 253 F.3d 1180,1186 (9th Cir.2001), opinion amended on denial of reh’g, 273 F.3d 1266 (9th Cir.2001).

“ ‘Although there is no explicit requirement concerning the class definition in [Rule] 23, courts have held that the class must be adequately defined and clearly ascertainable before a class action may proceed.’” Schwartz v. Upper Deck Co., 183 F.R.D. 672, 679-80 (S.D.Cal.1999) (quoting Elliott v. ITT Corp., 150 F.R.D. 569, 573-74 (N.D.Ill.1992)). “A class is ascertainable if it identifies a group of unnamed plaintiffs by describing a set of common characteristics sufficient to allow a member of that group to identify himself or herself as having the right to recover based on the description.” Moreno v. AutoZone, Inc., 251 F.R.D. 417, 421 [306]*306(N.D.Cal.2008), vacated on other grounds, 2009 WL 3320489 (N.D.Cal.2009). A class will be considered sufficiently definite if it is administratively feasible to determine whether a particular person is a class member. Shaw v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, 2011 WL 6934434 *2 (S.D.Cal. Dec. 29, 2011).

Rule 23 requires that four prerequisites be satisfied for class certification: (1) numerosity; (2) commonality; (3) typicality; and (4) adequacy of representation. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a). In addition, a party seeking class certification must meet one of the three criteria listed in Rule 23(b). See Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b).

2. Analysis

Plaintiff moves for an order certifying the following class:

All persons within the United States who had or have a number assigned to a cellular telephone service, who received at least two calls using an automatic telephone dialing system and/or an artificial or prerecorded voice from Defendant or its agent between August 22, 2008 and August 22, 2012 for debt collection purposes, who were not customers of Defendant at the time of the calls, where Defendant’s customer account records indicate that prior to the second and any subsequent calls that said person were non-account holders as identified by one or more the following terms in Defendant’s electronic customer account records: “wrong number,” “wrong telephone number,” “incorrect number,” “third party,” “third party number,” “third party telephone number,” “third party contact,” “wrong party,” “wrong party number,” or “wrong party telephone number.”

Doe. # 70 at 6. Plaintiff explains that this proposed class excludes persons who were called by defendant for emergency purposes or those who gave defendant their prior express consent to be called. Id. at 7. Plaintiff claims this definition is narrower than the class proposed in the TAC, Id. (citing TAC

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306 F.R.D. 303, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abdeljalil-v-general-electric-capital-corp-casd-2015.