Epps v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

307 F.R.D. 487, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66647, 2015 WL 2408630
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedMay 21, 2015
DocketNo. 4:15CV00138 JLH
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 307 F.R.D. 487 (Epps v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Epps v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 307 F.R.D. 487, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66647, 2015 WL 2408630 (E.D. Ark. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

J. LEON HOLMES, District Judge.

On February 5, 2015, Leslie Epps and William Epps commenced this putative class action against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County, Arkansas, alleging that Wal-Mart failed to credit the plaintiffs for the full amount of insurance proceeds that it received for services provided to the plaintiffs at the Wal-Mart Vision Center. The plaintiffs seek relief on theories of conversion, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Prac[489]*489tices Act. Leslie and William Epps claim damages of $55.00 and $35.00, respectively. The complaint also seeks damages for a class of similarly-situated plaintiffs. On March 10, 2015, Wal-Mart removed the action to this Court.

On March 30, 2015, Wal-Mart sent an offer of judgment to the plaintiffs under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68. WalMart offered judgment to Leslie Epps in the amount of $90.00 and to William Epps in the amount of $107.00. Wal-Mart also offered pre- and post-judgment interest as well as a reasonable amount of attorneys’ fees and costs accrued through the date of the offer in amounts to be determined by agreement or by the Court. On the same day, Wal-Mart filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the offer of judgment provides the complete relief that the named plaintiffs seek, that the named plaintiffs’ claims are moot, and that the entire action must be dismissed for lack of an Article III ease or controversy. The plaintiffs have filed a response, moved to strike Wal-Mart’s offer of judgment, and moved to certify the class. For the reasons explained below, Wal-Mart’s motion to dismiss is denied, the plaintiffs’ motion to strike is granted, and the plaintiffs motion to certify the class is held in abeyance.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) requires dismissal of claims over which the federal court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction. In addition, Article III, § 2, of the United States Constitution limits federal court jurisdiction to actual eases or controversies. See Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 1523, 1528, 185 L.Ed.2d 636 (2013); Damasco v. Clearwire Corp., 662 F.3d 891, 894 (7th Cir.2011). To invoke personal jurisdiction, a plaintiff must show that he has a personal stake in the outcome at all stages of the action. Genesis, 133 S.Ct. at 1528; Da-masco, 662 F.3d at 894-95. “If an intervening circumstance deprives the plaintiff of a ‘personal stake in the outcome of the lawsuit,’ a[t] any point during litigation, the action can no longer proceed and must be dismissed as moot.” Genesis, 133 S.Ct. at 1528 (quoting Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., 494 U.S. 472, 477-78 [110 S.Ct. 1249, 108 L.Ed.2d 400] (1990) (internal quotation marks omitted)).

March v. Medicredit, Inc., Case No. 4:13CV1210 TIA, 2013 WL 6265070, at *1 (E.D.Mo. Dec. 4, 2013).

Wal-Mart argues that the action is moot because it has offered the named plaintiffs a Rule 68 judgment in full satisfaction of their individual claims and because no motion for class certification had been filed when Wal-Mart extended the offers. The plaintiffs have responded by filing a motion for class certification and arguing that an unaccepted Rule 68 offer in full satisfaction of their individual claims cannot moot a putative class action, and in any case, they argue, Wal-Mart’s offer fails to satisfy the entire demands of their individual claims because Wal-Mart has not offered punitive damages, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees, or an incentive award for acting as a class representative.

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68, “a party defending against a claim may serve on an opposing party an offer to allow judgment on specified terms, with the costs then accrued. If, within 14 days after being served, the opposing party serves written notice accepting the offer, either party may then file the offer and notice of acceptance, plus proof of service.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 68(a). “An unaccepted offer is considered withdrawn, but it does not preclude a later offer. Evidence of an unaccepted offer is not admissible except in a proceeding to determine costs.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 68(b).

Here, the plaintiffs did not accept Wal-Mart’s offer within the 14-day period specified in Rule 68(a), so under Rule 68(b), Wal-Mart’s “unaccepted offer is considered withdrawn” and is “not admissible.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 68(b). However, contrary to Stein v. Buccaneers Ltd. P’ship, 772 F.3d 698, 702 (11th Cir.2014), and Diaz v. First Am. Home Buyers Prot. Corp., 732 F.3d 948, 954 (9th Cir.2013), both following Genesis Healthcare, 133 S.Ct. at 1533-34 (Kagan, J., dissenting), applying this basic contract principle to the Rule 68 offer does not dispose of the Article III question regarding whether the action is moot. Hendricks v. Inergy, L.P., Case No. 4:12CV00069 JLH, 2013 WL 6984634, at *3-4 [490]*490(E.D.Ark. July 18, 2013). Rather, what creates the mootness issue is the offer itself, which seeks “to provide every form of individual relief the claimant seeks in the complaint.” Id. at *4 (quoting Hrivnak v. NCO Portfolio Mgmt., Inc., 719 F.3d 564, 568 (6th Cir.2013)).

Judge Schiltz has concisely summarized the current state of the law:

Courts agree that, if the class has been certified, the fact that the named plaintiffs individual claim becomes moot does not necessarily moot the entire case. See Sos-na v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 401-02, 95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975). Courts also agree that, if the named plaintiffs claim becomes moot after class certification has been denied, he may pursue an appeal of the denial of his class-certification motion—necessarily implying that the entire case is not rendered moot. See Deposit Guar. Nat’l Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326, 339-40, 100 S.Ct. 1166, 63 L.Ed.2d 427 (1980); see also Geraghty, 445 U.S. at 404, 100 S.Ct. 1202 (“an action brought on behalf of a class does not become moot upon expiration of the named plaintiffs substantive claim, even though class certification has been denied”). Finally, courts agree that if the individual claim of the named plaintiff becomes moot for some reason other than a Rule 68 offer before the named plaintiff moves to certify the class, the entire case is rendered moot. See Shipman v. Mo. Dep’t of Family Servs., 877 F.2d 678, 682 (8th Cir.1989).

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Bluebook (online)
307 F.R.D. 487, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66647, 2015 WL 2408630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/epps-v-wal-mart-stores-inc-ared-2015.