Barfield v. Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative

309 F.R.D. 491, 2015 WL 5022836, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110741
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedAugust 21, 2015
DocketCase No. 2:11-CV-04321-NKL
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 309 F.R.D. 491 (Barfield v. Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barfield v. Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative, 309 F.R.D. 491, 2015 WL 5022836, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110741 (W.D. Mo. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

NANETTE K. LAUGHREY, District Judge.

Before the Court is Plaintiffs’ Motion to Add Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(3) Information to Judgment, [Doc. 695], and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Approval of a Plan of Allocation of the Judgment Funds and for Rule 54(b) Certification, [Doc. 717]. For the reasons set forth below, the former is granted, and the latter is granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background

After a five day jury trial on the issue of damages, a jury returned a verdict awarding Plaintiffs $79,014,140 for claims arising out of the Sho-Me Defendants’ 1(hereinafter ShoMe) unauthorized use of electric transmission line easements on Plaintiffs’ property for commercial telecommunications purposes. On the day of the jury’s verdict, the Clerk of Court filed a Judgment which stated that the jury found the Plaintiffs’ damages to be $79,014,140. [Doc. 621]. That Judgment was amended nunc pro tunc in April 2015 to identify who the judgment is against and to cross-reference the Court’s prior liability determination. [Doc. 690]. A Second Amended Judgment was filed in June 2015 to include the Court’s award of post-judgment interest to Plaintiffs. [Doc. 702]. On August 21, 2015, the Court denied Sho-Me’s post-trial Rule 50 Motions for Judgment as a Matter of Law, [Docs. 607, 638], and ShoMe’s Rule 59 Motion for New Trial, [Doc. 638]. [Doe. 730]. Plaintiffs now request that the Court amend the Second Amended Judgment to comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(3). [Doc. 695]. Plaintiffs also request approval of their proposed Plan of Allocation, which sets out the proposed method for distribution of the judgment fund, and, out of an abundance of caution, for certification under Rule 54(b) that the judgment is a final disposition of Plaintiffs’ claims against the Sho-Me Defendants. [Docs. 717, 717-1].

II. Discussion

A. Plaintiffs’ Motion to Amend the Judgment

1. Information Required in Judgment

Plaintiffs request that the Second Amended Judgment be amended in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c) to include a description of the class and those excluded from the class. Rule 23(c)(3)(B) states that for any class certified under Rule 23(b)(3), “[w]hether or not favorable to the class, the judgment in a class action must ... include and specify or describe those to whom the Rule 23(c)(2) notice was directed, who have not requested exclusion, and whom the court finds to be class members.” Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 23(c)(3)(B).

Sho-Me argues Rule 23(c)(3)(B) requires a final judgment to include the names of and amounts awarded to each class member. However, this interpretation is inconsistent with the plain language of Rule 23(c)(3)(B) which requires the judgment to “specify or describe” class members. Fed.R.Civ.Pro. [493]*49323(c)(3)(B) (emphasis added); see also 1 Newberg On Glass Actions § 2:4 (4th ed. 2002) (“The drafters of Rule 23(c)(3) were careful not to require in a final class judgment that all class members be specifically identified. Rather, even in classes under Rule 23(b)(3), all that is required is that the class be described in the final judgment.”); Cook v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 618 F.3d 1127, 1137-38 (10th Cir.2010) (concluding that judgment was sufficiently final under Rule 54(b) because although it did not distribute the aggregate class award among individual members, an allocation plan provided a thorough framework for determining each class member’s damages); Cook v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., 564 F.Supp.2d 1189 (D.Colo.2008) (final judgment describing class but not listing individual class members).

In support of their argument, Sho-Me cites to Allapattah Servs., Inc. v. Exxon Corp., 157 F.Supp.2d 1291 (S.D.F1.2001), aff'd on other grounds, 333 F.3d 1248 (11th Cir. 2003) ; aff'd on other grounds, 545 U.S. 546, 125 S.Ct. 2611, 162 L.Ed.2d 502 (2005). In Allapattah, gasoline dealers brought a class action against Exxon alleging Exxon breached a sales agreement by overcharging for fuel purchases. A jury returned a special verdict, which determined that Exxon was liable for overcharging, the time period by year in which the overcharge occurred, and the amount, in cents per gallon, by which Exxon overcharged. Allapattah, 157 F.Supp.2d at 1297. When the plaintiffs moved for the district court to calculate an aggregate damage award by multiplying the cents per gallon determination by the time period at issue and the number of gallons purchased by the class members over that time period, the district court declined to do so after determining that the jury did not award an aggregate compensatory damage award. Rather, by determining a cents per gallon amount, the jury determined class damages in the form of a common guideline or factor that would apply to determine the measure of damages of each class member during the claims administration process. Id at 1297-98. There were also individual considerations that prevented an aggregate damage award and necessitated identification of each class member before a final judgment. For example, because the class was a nationwide class, different statutes of limitations and prejudgment interest calculations applied to class members of different states. Id. at 1300; see also Allapattah, 333 F.3d at 1257. Exxon also filed set-off claims against some class members. The district court concluded that because the verdict did not determine an aggregate award to the class as a whole, it was not final as contemplated by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Allapat-tah, 157 F.Supp.2d at 1304. Instead, the district court concluded that final judgment could not be entered “until after individual class members have made claims and both the validity and the amount of the claims have been determined; that is, to be ‘final,’ the judgment must adjudicate all aspects of the claim, including compensatory damages and prejudgment interest for each class member.” Id.

Unlike the jury in Allapattah, however, the jury in this ease determined an aggregate damage calculation. The need to identify individual class members to determine applicable statutes of limitations, off-set counterclaims, prejudgment interest, or other individualized inquiries is not present here, and including the names of the class members will not affect the amount of damages owed by Sho-Me. Although class members must be identified through property records and a claims process, the Parties agree on the applicable time period of ownership and the number and location of the miles of fiber optic cable at issue. All that remains to be done is for the members of the class to submit claims and a copy of a deed showing ownership during the relevant period (which may be cross-checked by the Claims Administrator or Claims Center Director using tax records and GIS mapping technology).

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Bluebook (online)
309 F.R.D. 491, 2015 WL 5022836, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110741, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barfield-v-sho-me-power-electric-cooperative-mowd-2015.