Gascho v. Global Fitness Holdings, LLC

918 F. Supp. 2d 708, 2013 WL 170112, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6596
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedJanuary 16, 2013
DocketCase No. 2:11-CV-00436
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 918 F. Supp. 2d 708 (Gascho v. Global Fitness Holdings, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gascho v. Global Fitness Holdings, LLC, 918 F. Supp. 2d 708, 2013 WL 170112, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6596 (S.D. Ohio 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GEORGE C. SMITH, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 61) and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Certification or, in the Alternative, Motion for Reconsideration (Doc. 73). These motions are fully briefed and ripe for disposition. For the reasons that follow, the Court DENIES both motions.

I. Background1

On April 13, 2011, Plaintiffs initiated this class action against Defendant Global Fitness Holdings, LLC, d/b/a Urban Active (“Global Fitness”), in the Court of Common Pleas for Franklin County, Ohio. Global Fitness is a Kentucky limited liability corporation that operates fitness facilities in Ohio. Plaintiffs are residents of Ohio who entered into membership and/or personal training, child care, and/or tanning contracts at Global Fitness’s Ohio Urban Active gym facilities. Plaintiffs allege that they were financially wronged as members of Urban Active fitness clubs in Ohio.

Defendant removed this action to this Court on May 19, 2011, pursuant to the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), as codified at 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(d) and 1453. In this lawsuit, Plaintiffs have alleged, inter alia, that Defendant engages in common practices of misrepresenting the terms and conditions of contracts at the time of sale, making unauthorized deductions from Plaintiffs’ bank accounts, failing to provide consumers with copies of contracts at the time of signing, failing to orally inform consumers at the time of signing of their right to cancel, failing to provide copies of “notice of cancellation” documents in the form required under Ohio law, and failing to honor contract cancellations. As a result of this alleged activity, Plaintiffs assert the following claims: violation of the Ohio Consumer [712]*712Sales Practices Act (“OCSPA”) (Counts I and II); violation of the Ohio Prepaid Entertainment Contract Act (“OPECA”) (Count III); violation of the Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act (“ODTPA”) (Count IV); unjust enrichment (Count V); conversion (Count VI); and breach of contract (VII).

In August 2011, Defendant filed a Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendant moved for judgment in its favor on Counts I through VI, as outlined above. Defendant did not seek judgment on the pleadings as to Plaintiffs breach of contract claim (Count VII). In February 2012, Defendant filed a second Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings, whereby it moved for partial judgment on the pleadings as to certain named Plaintiffs’ claims of breach of contract, and claims under the OCSPA and the OPECA (Doc. 61). In support of its second Motion for Partial Judgment on the pleadings, Defendant submitted copies of documents purported to be contracts between Defendant and the Plaintiffs whose claims are the subject of this motion.

In March 2012, this Court issued a decision addressing the first Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings, as well as objections and certain other motions (Doc. 69). The Court granted in part and denied in part Defendant’s first Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings. More particularly, the Court dismissed Plaintiffs’ ODTPA claim (Count IV) and conversion claim (Count VI), and it limited Plaintiffs’ class claims under the OCSPA and OPE-CA (Counts I, II, and III) to certain allegations, as set forth in the decision. In reaching its determination as to the class claims, the Court ruled in part that consent judgments do not contain “deter-min[ations] by a court of this state[,]” as that phrase is used in Ohio Revised Code § 1345.09(B), a statute addressing when a consumer may bring a class action for deceptive or unconscionable conduct. Because of the recency of the filing, the Court declined to resolve Defendant’s second Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings when it addressed the first Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings.

In May 2012, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Certification or, in the alternative, Motion for Reconsideration. Plaintiffs challenge the Court’s determination as it relates to whether consent judgments provide the notice necessary to allow a consumer to bring a class action for conduct that was deceptive or unconscionable. Plaintiffs assert that the issue of whether consent judgments provide the requisite notice should be certified to the Ohio Supreme Court, or the Court should reconsider its ruling on this issue.

Defendant’s second Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings, and Plaintiffs Motion for Certification or, in the alternative, Motion for Reconsideration, are fully briefed and ripe for review.

II. Plaintiffs’ Motion for Certification or, in the Alternative, Motion for Reconsideration

Plaintiffs move for certification of the following question to the Supreme Court of Ohio: “Does a consent judgment which contains findings of fact and conclusions of law and which the Attorney General has chosen to place in the Public Inspection File (“PIF”) constitute prior notice under Ohio Revised Code § 1345.09(B)?” (Doc. 73, p. 1). In the alternative, Plaintiffs move for reconsideration of the Court’s ruling “that consent judgments do not contain ‘determin[ations] by a court of this state[,]’ as that phrase is used in Ohio Revised Code § 1345.09(B).” (Doc. 69, p. 24).

[713]*713A. Motion for Certification

1. Standard of Review

Ohio Supreme Court Rule of Practice 9.01 provides that it “may answer a question certified to it by a court of the United States.” The Rule “may be invoked when the certifying court, in a proceeding before it, issues a certification order finding there is a question of Ohio law that may be determinative of the proceeding and for which there is no controlling precedent in the decisions of this Supreme Court.” Id. Thus, Rule 9.01 is the procedural means for a federal court to certify a question to the Ohio Supreme Court, and it sets forth the standard for the Ohio Supreme Court’s authority to answer a question certified to it. -

The decision whether or riot to certify a question to a state court “rests in the sound discretion of the federal court.” Lehman Bros. v. Schein, 416 U.S. 386, 391, 94 S.Ct. 1741, 40 L.Ed.2d 215 (1974). Even “where there is doubt as to local law and where the certification procedure is available, resort to it is [not] obligatory.” Lehman Bros., 416 U.S. at 390-91, 94 S.Ct. 1741. Certification “is most appropriate when the question is new and state law is unsettled.” Transamerica Ins. Co. v. Duro Bag Mfg. Co., 50 F.3d 370, 372 (6th Cir.1995). Late requests for certification are disfavored. See Pennington v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 553 F.3d 447, 450 (6th Cir.2009) (declining to certify in part because moving party “failed to request certification ..: when the case was before the district court”).

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918 F. Supp. 2d 708, 2013 WL 170112, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gascho-v-global-fitness-holdings-llc-ohsd-2013.