Haney v. Recall Center

282 F.R.D. 436, 2012 WL 1739257, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70300
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedMay 9, 2012
DocketNo. 10-CV-04003
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 282 F.R.D. 436 (Haney v. Recall Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haney v. Recall Center, 282 F.R.D. 436, 2012 WL 1739257, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70300 (W.D. Ark. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

SUSAN 0. HICKEY, District Judge.

Before the Court is the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. (ECF No. 34). The Defendant has responded in opposition (ECF No. 36), and the matter is ripe for consideration. For the following reasons, the motion will be granted.

BACKGROUND

This case arises out of the gathering of personal information, about the Plaintiffs and others, from the state of Arkansas’s motor-vehicle-records database. Disclosure and obtainment of personal information from motor-vehicle records is governed by the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (“DPPA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2721 et seq., which makes illegal the disclosure or obtainment of personal information in certain situations. The Plaintiffs allege that the Defendant, The Recall Center (“TRC”), obtained—by purchase—personal information about the Plaintiffs from Arkansas’s motor-vehicle-records database in violation of the DPPA. TRC admits that it purchased Arkansas’s motor-vehicle-records database under a contract with the state, but contends that it had a proper purpose for each item of information purchased.

The Plaintiffs seek various statutory damages under the DPPA, and have asked the Court to certify their case as a class-action. TRC opposes certification.

THE PROPOSED CLASS

The Plaintiffs define their proposed class as:

Each and every individual whose name, address, driver identification number, race and/or date of birth and/or sex are contained in motor vehicle records obtained by the Defendant from the State of Arkansas, [438]*438without the express consent of such individuals, from June 1, 2000, through the date of judgment herein.
Excluded from the class are persons who have expressly authorized the State of Arkansas to provide third parties with their “personal information” for any purpose; those persons whose information was obtained for a permissible purpose defined by the DPPA; all employees, including, but not limited to, Judges, Magistrate Judges, clerks and court staff and personnel of the United States District Courts, the United States Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court; their spouses and any minor children living in their households and other persons within a third degree of relationship to any such Federal Judge; and finally, the entire jury venire called to for jury service in relation to this lawsuit. (ECF No. 35).

According to the Plaintiffs, this proposed class consists of approximately two-million individuals. The practical bounds of the proposed class are every individual who has been issued an Arkansas driver’s license, or who has registered a motor vehicle with the state, as of the date TRC purchased Arkansas’s database.

The Court, however, redefines the class to reflect the four-year statute of limitations for federal actions that aren’t governed by other specific statutory language. 28 U.S.C. § 1658(a) (2006). The Plaintiffs filed their complaint on January 14, 2010. (ECF No. 1). Thus, the class definition now is:

Each and every individual whose name, address, driver identification number, race and/or date of birth and/or sex are contained in motor vehicle records obtained by the Defendant from the State of Arkansas, without the express consent of such individuals, from January 14, 2006, through the date of judgment herein.
Excluded from the class are persons who have expressly authorized the State of Arkansas to provide third parties with their “personal information” for any purpose; those persons whose information was obtained for a permissible purpose defined by the DPPA; all employees, including, but not limited to, Judges, Magistrate Judges, clerks and court staff and personnel of the United States District Courts, the United States Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court; their spouses and any minor children living in their households and other persons within a third degree of relationship to any such Federal Judge; and finally, the entire jury venire called to for jury service in relation to this lawsuit.

APPLICABLE LAW

Class certification is governed by Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The decision whether to certify a class action is within the broad discretion of the district court. In re Milk Prods. Antitrust Litig., 195 F.3d 430, 436 (8th Cir.1999). In determining whether to certify a class action, “the question is not whether the plaintiff or plaintiffs have stated a cause of action or will prevail on the merits, but rather whether the requirements of Rule 23 are met.” Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 178, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974) (internal citations omitted). Thus, while the Court must conduct a rigorous analysis, see Gen. Tel. Co. of the Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 161, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982), class certification is a procedural determination and should not include an inquiry into the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims. Ei-sen, 417 U.S. at 177-78, 94 S.Ct. 2140. The plaintiff moving for class certification has the burden of showing that the requirements of Rule 23 are met. Coleman v. Watt, 40 F.3d 255, 259 (8th Cir.1994).

In order to be certified under Rule 23, the class must satisfy the four requirements of Rule 23(a). In re St. Jude Med., Inc., 425 F.3d 1116, 1119 (8th Cir.2005). These requirements are met if: 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). These requirements for class certification under Rule 23(a) are commonly referred to as “numerosity, [439]*439commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation.” Gen. Tel. Co. v. EEOC, 446 U.S. 318, 330, 100 S.Ct. 1698, 64 L.Ed.2d 319 (1980).

Once Rule 23(a)’s requirements are met, the class must also show that it meets the definition of at least one type of class under Rule 23(b). Avritt v. Reliastar Life Ins. Co., 615 F.3d 1023, 1029 (8th Cir.2010).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
282 F.R.D. 436, 2012 WL 1739257, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haney-v-recall-center-arwd-2012.