Flanagan v. Allstate Insurance

225 F.R.D. 569, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23074, 2004 WL 2584809
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided November 10, 2004·No. No. 01 C 1541·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MORAN, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiffs Jay Flanagan, James Carson, John Chaney and Donald Jones brought this class action suit against defendants Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate) and its Agent Transition Severance Plan (Plan), for violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq. After a motion to dismiss, the plaintiffs had two remaining claims: constructive discharge with the intent to interfere with the receipt of benefits in violation of § 510 of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1140, and failure to disclose serious consideration of improved benefits in breach of Allstate’s fiduciary duty. On plaintiffs’ motion we certified a class as to the constructive discharge claim, but found that plaintiffs failed to satisfy the commonality requirement for class certification as to the breach of fiduciary duty claim.1 Defendants now move the court to reconsider its decision granting class certification. The motion is granted in part and denied in part.

A party can bring a motion for reconsideration to correct errors of law or fact, or present newly discovered evidence. See Bordelon v. Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees, 233 F.3d 524, 529 (7th Cir.2000)(citing LB Credit Corp. v. Resolution Trust Corp., 49 F.3d 1263 (7th Cir.1995)). “A motion for reconsideration performs a valuable function where the Court has patently misunderstood a party, or has made a decision outside the adversarial issues presented to the Court by the parties, or has made an error not of reasoning but of apprehension.” Bank of Waunakee v. Rochester Cheese Sales, Inc., 906 F.2d 1185, 1191(7th Cir.1990). Motions for reconsideration should not serve to introduce new legal theories for the first time. Publishers Resource, Inc. v. Walker-Davis Publications, Inc., 762 F.2d 557, 561 (7th Cir.1985); Pickett v. Prince, 5 F.Supp.2d 595, 597 (N.D.Ill.1998). Nonetheless, due to the ongoing duty to ensure that the requirements for class certification are met throughout the entire case, courts have analyzed new arguments presented in motions to reconsider class certifications. See e.g., Belbis v. County of Cook, 2003 WL 187407 at *1 (N.D.Ill.2003); see also Eggleston v. Chicago Journeymen Plumbers’ Local Union No. ISO, U.A., 657 F.2d 890, 896 (7th Cir.1981)(‘Tf the certification of the class is later deemed to be improvident, the court may decertify.”).

Defendants argue that class certification was improper, or at least that the definition of the class is overly inclusive. Defendants provide several reasons why the court erred in granting certification — it shifted the burden of proof to defendants; did not ensure the requirements of both Rule 23(a) and 23(b)(2) were satisfied; and certified a vague, fail-safe class. We will address each of these contentions in turn.

Defendants argue that the court did not apply the proper standard for class certi[571]*571fication. They maintain that the court impermissibly shifted the burden of proof for class certification from plaintiffs to defendants. A review of our analysis reveals that this is not the case, though our articulation of the applicable standard could have been clearer. Defendants’ concern stems, in part, from our statement that “[f]or purposes of this motion the court accepts the allegations of the complaint as true, though it may probe the evidence, if necessary, to determine whether class certification is appropriate” (Mem. Opinion and Order, 6/21/04 (Opinion) at 4). Defendants argue that courts are not to accept plaintiffs’ allegations as true when determining whether to certify class actions, but rather are to employ a “rigorous analysis” to ensure that the requirements for certification are met. See Davis v. Hutchins, 321 F.3d 641, 649 (7th Cir.2003)(quoting Davis v. Romney, 490 F.2d 1360, 1366 (3d Cir.1974)). In fact, we acknowledged the need to “probe the evidence” when considering whether class certification is appropriate, and, throughout our analysis of plaintiffs’ motion, we did not merely accept plaintiffs’ assertions regarding certification as true, but rather discussed evidence, including various parties’ deposition testimony. As we explained in the followup sentence (“In deciding whether or not to certify a class, the court does not evaluate the merits of the underlying action.”), the allegations that the court accepts as true, for the time being, relate to the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims against defendants (Opinion at 4). Judge Castillo articulated this same standard in McClain v. Leona’s Pizzeria, Inc., 222 F.R.D. 574, 576 (N.D.Ill.2004), stating: “When evaluating a motion for class certification, the court accepts as true the moving party’s allegations and does not examine the merits of the case.” Citing Hardin v. Harshbarger, 814 F.Supp. 703, 706 (N.D.Ill. 1993). Though the Allstate defendants argue that the court employed the wrong standard when deciding the motion for class certification, the court used the same standard described in Szabo v. Bridgeport Machines, Inc., 249 F.3d 672, 677 (7th Cir.2001), in which the Seventh Circuit stated that “sometimes it may be necessary for the court to probe beyond the pleadings before coming to rest on the certification question ... actual, not presumed, conformance with Rule 23(a) ... indispensable.” Our decision acknowledged this standard and distinguished it from an inquiry into the merits of plaintiffs’ claims. remains

Defendants also take issue with the court’s statement that “Rule 23 should be liberally interpreted and ... when using its broad discretion regarding the certification of a class, a court should err in favor of maintaining the class action.” Courts have repeatedly acknowledged their discretion in certifying class actions and noted that they should err in favor of granting certification. See e.g., King v. Kansas City Southern Industries, Inc., 519 F.2d 20, 26 (7th Cir.1975); Wallace v. Chicago Housing Authority, 224 F.R.D. 420, 423-24 (N.D.Ill.2004). This language appears verbatim in a case cited by defendants. See Guillory v. American Tobacco Co., 2001 WL 290603 at *2 (N.D.Ill. 2001)(“The court maintains broad discretion to determine whether a proposed class satisfies the requirements and should err in favor of maintaining class actions.”).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Flanagan v. Allstate Insurance, 225 F.R.D. 569, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23074, 2004 WL 2584809 (N.D. Ill. 2004).

225 F.R.D. 569 (Flanagan v. Allstate Insurance) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Flanagan v. Allstate Insurance
228 F.R.D. 617 (N.D. Illinois, 2005)