George v. Beneficial Finance Co. of Dallas

81 F.R.D. 4, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12161
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedDecember 28, 1977
DocketCiv. A. No. CA-3-76-0628-G
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 81 F.R.D. 4 (George v. Beneficial Finance Co. of Dallas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
George v. Beneficial Finance Co. of Dallas, 81 F.R.D. 4, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12161 (N.D. Tex. 1977).

Opinion

ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS’ APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION OF CLASS

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, District Judge.

This is a suit under the Truth-in-Lending Act, 15 U.S.C., § 1601, et seq., in which a husband and wife ask to represent a class of borrowers in claims against Beneficial Finance Company of Dallas (loan company) and Beneficial Corporation.

When Charles and Paula George, represented by attorneys employed by Dallas Legal Services Foundation, Inc., on May 7, 1976 first filed this suit, no class allegations were made. On April 7, 1977, leave to amend was granted and the class allegation first appeared in the amended complaint which followed. The Georges wish to represent a class of all borrowers from BFC during the period of April 22, 1976 through April 22, 1977.

Charles George’s income and debt picture is accurately painted in defendant’s opposition to class certification.1

Charles George claims that contrary to 15 U.S.C., § 1601, et seq., he was never furnished a statement of disclosure indicating the finance charges, annual percentage rate, and methods of computing default and [6]*6delinquency charges. George does claim to have received a form notice in March, 1976 suggesting a possible problem in the disclosure statements the loan company was using and a corrected disclosure statement dated in September, 1976.

On February 9,1976, the Seventh Circuit decided Allen v. Beneficial Finance of Gary, Indiana, 531 F.2d 797 (7th Cir. 1976), cert, denied, 429 U.S. 885, 97 S.Ct. 237, 50 L.Ed.2d 166 (1976) holding that defendant’s forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation Z.2 The same forms were used here.

Responding to the Allen decision, the loan company on March 23,1976 advised all borrowers with loans not then fully repaid and made on or after March 23,1975 that there was a question as to the adequacy of its earlier disclosure. On September 23, 1976, the loan company furnished to each of its customers with outstanding loans a revised disclosure form and all new customers thereafter received the new form.

The loan companies urge that (1) Charles and Paula George are not members of their proposed class; (2) their claims are not typical; (3) there is a defense against the Georges distinct from defenses available against proposed class members; (4) the Georges lack the financial resources to sustain the case; and (5) that the Rule 23(b)(3) requirements of predominate issues, superiority and manageability, are not met. Finally, defendants urge that before the class claims were made, any deficiencies in their forms were corrected both by further disclosures to existing borrowers and by not using the old forms. It follows, defendants reason, that class certification could only be punitive in purpose and effect because the defects have already been remedied.

Because the Rule 23(b)(3) requirements pose the most difficult problems, they will be dealt with first. During the time period April 22nd through September 22, 1976, 2,502 loans were made. By September 22, 1977, 409 of the loans were in default. The loan companies argue that under Rule 13(a), F.R.C.P., suits on these notes are compulsory counterclaims. Citing Carter v. Public Finance Corp., 73 F.R.D. 488 (N.D.Ala.1977), defendants urge that

“ . . . this means that instead of conducting one trial, the court — in a class action — would probably be conducting . separate trials, the class actions and . . . counterclaims against individuals.”

The defendants also point to the observation in Carter that:

“ . . . class members would probably find themselves exposed to much greater liability on the counterclaims than they would ever stand to recover from the defendant in a class action, and probably would never choose to bring individual actions . . . ” Id., 491.

After reflection the court is persuaded that the results reached in Carter are here inescapable. Some courts have concluded that a counterclaim is not compulsory if it would not have an independent jurisdictional base. That reasoning is not supported by the language or purpose of Rule 13(a). Compelling the assertion in one suit of all claims arising from common transactions serves the goal of conserving the resources of the courts and the litigants (efficiency) by resolving multiple disputes with a single presentation of facts. The suits on notes will inevitably deal with the circumstance of the execution of the notes and any representation made to “induce” the borrowing. Concededly, adherence to the literal command of Rule 13(a) here cuts against achievement of “efficiency” by defeating a class adjudication of other common issues. A contrary construction of Rule 13(a) cuts against the litigation in one forum of all claims from one transaction. It follows that we are not confronted by choices between two possible constructions — one productive of efficiency and one not.

Other courts have reasoned that class members do not become “opposing parties” within the meaning of Rule 13(a) until they file claims at the recovery phase of the [7]*7litigation, delaying until then the filing of compulsory counterclaims. See Weit v. Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago (N.D.Ill.1973), 60 F.R.D. 5; Wainwright v. Kraftco Corp. (N.D.Ga.1974), 54 F.R.D. 532. However, this approach only postpones the decision as to manageability of the suit as a class action. Nothing is gained from allowing the suit to proceed as a class action knowing full well that the “damage phase” of the case would be totally unmanageable. The result even with this view of “opposing parties” is several hundred note suits before one federal court; and these suits not only would not have been in the federal forum but for the class certification but more importantly might never have been filed at all. While congressional objectives may here be clear, Rule 23 is not the procedural devise for achieving them. It is at least proper to construe Rule 23 with an eye toward achievement of substantive and procedural congruence; but if a proffered class is unmanageable it will not become manageable by semantical legerdemain. The inevitable result of such an excess is a Rule 23 tailored for each substantive claim.

Finally, one could avoid the problem by redefining the class to exclude borrowers in default. Apart from the fact that being in default is a changing 3 status, redefinition is flawed by a more fundamental concern. If there is the requisite predomination of issues common to borrowers, defining the class to include only borrowers not in default omits several hundred borrowers sharing the same interest in the same overriding issues. The notion that it is better to have “half a class than none at all” urges redefinition; its emphasis is achievement of a. perceived congressional objective (substantive result) by an award of money damages. The perceived congressional objective is increased disclosure and the perceived congressional means is certification of a class — preferably one large enough to compel a defendant to alter its practices. Although redefinition would in this sense help reach the congressional objective, the fact remains that whether a borrower is in default has little to do with his kinship with the issues whose predomination justified a class at the outset.

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Bluebook (online)
81 F.R.D. 4, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/george-v-beneficial-finance-co-of-dallas-txnd-1977.