Carpe v. Aquila, Inc.

224 F.R.D. 454, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21590, 2004 WL 2418088
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedSeptember 13, 2004
DocketNo. 02-0388-CV-W-FJG
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 224 F.R.D. 454 (Carpe v. Aquila, Inc.) 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
Carpe v. Aquila, Inc., 224 F.R.D. 454, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21590, 2004 WL 2418088 (W.D. Mo. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

GAITAN, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are (1) Plaintiffs’ Motion to Certify Class (Doc. No. 82); and (2) Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File Amended Motion for Class Certification (Doc. No. 94). Each will be considered below.

I. Plaintiffs’ Motion to Certify Class (Doc. No. 82)

The party moving for class certification bears the burden of showing that all prerequisites have been satisfied. Coleman v. Watt, 40 F.3d 255, 258-59 (8th Cir.1994). Further, the Court retains wide discretion in determining whether certification of a class is appropriate. Coley v. Clinton, 635 F.2d 1364, 1378 (8th Cir.1980).

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) requires the moving party, as a prerequisite applicable to all class actions, to show:

(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). Further, pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3), in addition to meeting the prerequisites of 23(a), the Court must be satisfied “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)(3).

Plaintiffs’ present motion is to certify a class action for plaintiffs’ claims arising under Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”), and Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). Plaintiffs wish the class to be defined as:

All persons who purchased or otherwise acquired common stock of Aquila, Inc. during the Class Period — from April 25, 2001, to December 3, 2001 — and were damaged thereby. Excluded from the class are the defendants, the officers and directors of the Company, members of their immediate families and their legal representatives, heirs, successors or assigns and any entity in which defendants have or had a controlling interest.

Plaintiffs state that they meet the four prerequisites of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a), as well as the Rule 23(b)(3) requirements, making class certification appropriate.

A. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a).

1. Numerosity.

As noted previously, Rule 23(a)(1) requires that the proposed class be “so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” Plaintiffs state that joinder of all members of the class would be impractical because the class consists of thousands of members geographically dispersed throughout the United States.

[457]*457First, number is but one of several considerations relevant to the joinder impracticability issue. In addition to the size of the class, the Court may also consider the nature of the action, the size of the individual claims, the inconvenience of trying individual suits, and any other factor relevant to the practicability of joining all the putative class members. Paxton v. Union Nat’l Bank, 688 F.2d 552, 559 (8th Cir.1982) (citing C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1762); see also Newberg on Class Actions, Vol. 1 § 3.06. Upon careful review, the Court is persuaded that judicial economy will be best served through the certification of the proposed class.

Second, while there is no bright line test regarding the minimum number of plaintiffs needed to satisfy the numerosity requirement, there is support for certification of classes much smaller than the proposed class before this Court. Ark. Educ. Ass’n v. Bd. of Educ., 446 F.2d 763, 765 (8th Cir.1971) (twenty class plaintiffs). Satisfaction of the numerosity prong does not require that joinder be impossible, but only that plaintiffs will suffer a strong litigational hardship or inconvenience if joinder is required. Id. Further, commentators have recognized that:

Certainly, where the class is very large— for example numbering in the hundreds— joinder will be impracticable____ In light of prevailing precedent, the difficulty inherent in joining as few as 40 class members should raise a presumption that joinder is impracticable, and the plaintiff whose class is that large or larger should meet the test of Rule 23(a)(1) on that fact alone.

Newberg on Class Actions, § 3.05 at 3-25; see also 3B Moore’s Federal Practice § 23.05[1] at 23-143-45 (2d ed.1995) ( stating that “while there are exceptions, numbers in excess of forty, particularly numbers in excess of one hundred ... have sustained the [Rule 23(a)(1)] requirement”). Based upon the foregoing analysis, the Court finds that plaintiffs have met the numerosity requirement.

2. Commonality.

Pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, plaintiffs seeking class certification must show that “there are questions of law and facts common to the class.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(2). Plaintiffs have made such a showing. Several questions of law and fact are common to the class, including: (1) Whether the Securities Act and the Exchange Act — and the SEC rules promulgated thereunder — were violated by the defendants; (2) Whether the Company’s public filings and other public statements disseminated to the investing public misrepresented or failed to disclose material facts about Aquila; (3) Whether the defendants made false and misleading statements with scienter, and (4) The extent the members of the class have sustained damages, if any. Accordingly, the Court finds that plaintiffs have satisfied the commonality requirement of Rule 23(a).

3. Typicality.

As the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has noted:

Typicality under Rule 23(a)(3) means that there are “other members of the class who have the same or similar grievances as the plaintiff.” Donaldson v. Pillsbury Co., 554 F.2d 825, 830 (8th Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 856, 98 S.Ct. 177, 54 L.Ed.2d 128 (1977).

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Bluebook (online)
224 F.R.D. 454, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21590, 2004 WL 2418088, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carpe-v-aquila-inc-mowd-2004.