Brown v. SCI Funeral Services of Florida, Inc.

212 F.R.D. 602, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6023, 2003 WL 164523
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJanuary 15, 2003
DocketNo. 01-4370-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 212 F.R.D. 602 (Brown v. SCI Funeral Services of Florida, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. SCI Funeral Services of Florida, Inc., 212 F.R.D. 602, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6023, 2003 WL 164523 (S.D. Fla. 2003).

Opinion

ORDER

GRAHAM, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification (D.E.53).

THE COURT has considered the motion, the pertinent portions of the record, and is otherwise duly advised in the premises.

I. BACKGROUND

As set forth in the Second Amended Complaint, the proposed Class Representatives each executed a financed, pre-need Retail Installment Sales Contract (“RISC”) with Defendant, SCI FUNERAL SERVICES OF FLORIDA, INC. (“SCI”), to finance then-purchase of Funeral Merchandise.1 The Complaint alleges that SCI failed to comply with federal and Florida laws requiring certain disclosures in the RISC. Specifically, Plaintiffs claim that SCI violated the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq. (“TILA”), by failing to make all “material” disclosures, including disclosures regarding the finance charge, the amount financed, the annual percentage rate, and the estimates, by failing to more conspicuously disclose the “finance charge” and “annual percentage rate”, and by failing to deliver a copy of all disclosures prior to consummation of the transaction. Additionally, Plaintiffs maintain that SCI violated the Florida Retail Installment Sales Act (“FRISA”), by failing to disclose in the RISC the required language in § 520.34(l)(b), Fla. Stat., by failing to comply with TILA requirements-a violation of § 520.34(2), Fla. Stat., and by charging a processing fee of $50 which Plaintiffs claim exceeds the $10.00 processing fee limitation in § 520.34(14) of the Florida Statutes.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

It is well-established that class actions are a particularly appropriate and desirable means of redressing common claims for uniform legal violations that affect large numbers of persons in the same way. See, e.g., Kirkpatrick v. Bradford & Co. 827 F.2d 718, 722 (11th Cir.1987) (class action certified for securities and common law fraud claims); Kennedy v. Tallant, 710 F.2d 711, 718 (11th Cir.1983)(same). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 sets forth the requirements for obtaining class certification:

One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all only if (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a). In addition to the requirements of Rule 23(a), class certification is appropriate if any one of the subsections of Rule 23(b) are satisfied. The pertinent provision in this case, Rule 23(b)(3), requires that the court find “that the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b).

III. DISCUSSION

Plaintiffs maintain that the requirements of Rule 23 are satisfied in this case, and that [604]*604Plaintiffs’ claims are based on SCI’s uniform behavior in failing to make and provide a copy of the required disclosures pursuant to Florida and federal law, and in uniformly failing to comply with the statutory processing fee limitation.

Although Defendants vigorously oppose class certification, Defendants do not dispute that Plaintiffs have satisfied the requirement of numerosity and adequacy of the class representatives and class counsel. Rather, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs cannot satisfy the typicality requirements of Rule 23(a), or the Rule 23(b)(3) requirement that common questions of law and fact predominate over individualized questions, and further argue that Plaintiffs have failed to articulate a workable class definition.

A. Whether the Numerosity Requirement is Satisfied

Plaintiffs believe, and Defendants do not dispute, that there may be up to 9,000 class members. Based on the parties estimates, the Court agrees and finds that the putative class is so numerous that joinder of all members of the class is impracticable. Courts have noted that this requirement— “numerosity” — is more accurately described as an “impracticability of joinder” requirement. See Miles v. America Online, Inc., 202 F.R.D. 297 (M.D.Fla.2001); Walco, 168 F.R.D. at 324. The difficulty or inconvenience of joining all of these class members makes class litigation desirable. Singer, 185 F.R.D. at 687; America Online, 202 F.R.D. at 303 (proposed class of 4,700 subscribers satisfied requirement); CV Reit, Inc. v. Levy, 144 F.R.D. 690 (S.D.Fla.1992) (500 class members sufficient); Powers v. Stuart-James Co., Inc., 707 F.Supp. 499, 501-502 (M.D.Fla.1989) (500 investor class members).

B. Whether There are Questions Of Law and Fact Common to the Class

Under Rule 23(a)(2), the Court must find the existence of questions of law or fact that are common to all class members before the matter may be certified as a class action. No qualitative or quantitative test will determine commonality; it is only necessary to find at least one issue common to all class members. Pottinger v. City of Miami, 720 F.Supp. 955, 958 (S.D.Fla.1989); Walco Investments v. Thenen, 168 F.R.D. 315, 325 (S.D.Fla.1996); Singer, 185 F.R.D. at 687. Moreover, the Plaintiffs’ legal claims need not be completely identical and factual differences concerning treatment or damages will not defeat a finding of commonality. Broin, 641 So.2d at 890; CV Reit, 144 F.R.D. at 696; In re Amerifirst Securities Litigation, 139 F.R.D. 423 (S.D.Fla.1991); Pottinger, 720 F.Supp. at 958.

Plaintiffs contend that SCI’s conduct violated the rights of all class members in the same way. Each putative class member executed a pre-printed form RISC with SCI to finance the purchase of Funeral Merchandise. Plaintiffs allege SCI failed to make the required statutory disclosures as provided in FRISA and TILA. Further, the Complaint alleges that SCI fáiled to deliver a copy of all disclosures prior to consummation of the transaction and failed to comply with the $10 processing fee limitation set forth in the FRISA. Accordingly, Plaintiffs contend, and the Court agrees, that SCI’s common course of conduct similarly affected and damaged each class member, such that the “commonality” requirement of Rule 23(a)(2) is satisfied in this case.

C. Whether Plaintiffs’ Claims are Typical of the Claims of Class Members

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Bluebook (online)
212 F.R.D. 602, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6023, 2003 WL 164523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-sci-funeral-services-of-florida-inc-flsd-2003.