Hartman v. United Bank Card, Inc.

291 F.R.D. 591, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98120, 2013 WL 1442310
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedApril 8, 2013
DocketNo. C11-1753JLR
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 291 F.R.D. 591 (Hartman v. United Bank Card, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hartman v. United Bank Card, Inc., 291 F.R.D. 591, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98120, 2013 WL 1442310 (W.D. Wash. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A SECOND MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION AND TO CONDUCT ADDITIONAL CLASS DISCOVERY

JAMES L. ROBART, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Before the court is Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a second motion for class certification and to engage in additional class-related discovery (Dkt. # 103). The court has considered the motion, all submissions filed in support and opposition thereto, the balance of the record, and the applicable law. Being fully advised, the court DENIES Plaintiffs’ motion.

II. BACKGROUND

This matter involves a putative class action alleging that Defendants played recorded messages on telephones in violation of Washington’s statute restricting the use of automatic dialing and announcing devices (“WA-DAD”), RCW 80.36.400, along with other state statutory and common law claims. {See generally 2d Am. Compl. (Dkt. # 47).) Originally, Plaintiffs defined their putative class as:

All Washington residents who received one or more commercial solicitations from UBC directly or through its agents, including but not limited to IPS, through the use of an automatic dialing and announcing device.

(Class Cert. Mot. (Dkt. # 36) at 1; 2d Am. Compl. ¶ 4.2.)

On October 4, 2012, the court entered an order denying Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. (10/4/12 Order (Dkt. # 81) at 20-34.) The court held that although Plaintiffs had established two of the requirements for a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) — namely, numerosity and adequacy — Plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate commonality or typicality. (10/4/12 Order at 22-29.) The court also found that class certification under either Rule 23(b)(2) or 23(b)(3) would be inappropriate because individualized hearings would be necessary with respect to (1) whether a particular call at issue was answered by a person or a machine (10/4/12 Order at 32, 33), (2) whether a recorded message was left {id. at 32, 33-34), (3) if a recorded message was left, which message was played {id. at 32, 34), and (4) whether the calls at issue were made to telephones physically located within Washington State {id. at 32-33,34).

On the same day that the court signed the order denying class certification, Plaintiffs filed a motion to supplement the record on class certification. (Mot. to Supp. (Dkt. # 77).) Specifically, Plaintiffs sought to submit an excerpt of an Excel spreadsheet (produced by a non-party, ConnecTel, Inc. (“Con-neeTel”))1 that contained data concerning [594]*594the telephone calls that Defendants are alleged to have made using automatic dialing and announcing devices. (Mot. to Supp. (Dkt. # 77); see also Williamson Deel. (Dkt. # 78) Exs. G, H.) Plaintiffs had indicated that this information — which formed the evi-dentiary basis of their putative class — had been provided to the court already as a part of their motion for class certification. (Reply to Class Cert. (Dkt. # 64) at 3-4.) However, for reasons that remain unclear to the court, prior to their motion to supplement the record Plaintiffs had failed to submit the Con-neeTel spreadsheet or a representative sample of it. (See 10/9/12 Order (Dkt. # 82) at 3).2 The court initially denied Plaintiffs’ motion to supplement the record. (See 10/9/12 Order (Dkt. # 82).)

Plaintiffs then moved for reconsideration— both of the court’s order denying class certification and the court’s order denying supplementation of the record. (Mot. for Recon. (Dkt. # 83).) The court granted reconsideration of its order denying supplementation of the record, but denied reconsideration of its order denying class certification. (1/2/13 Order (Dkt. # 99).) The court found that there was sufficient evidence to support its conclusion that individual fact finding would be necessary to determine whether recipients of the calls were located within Washington State. (Id. at 8.) The court also found, based on the testimony of Jeff Peralta (one of the owners of ConnecTel), that ConnecTePs records were insufficient to identify whether a message played at all or which specific message played with respect to each identified call. (Id. at 10-11.)

In total, Mr. Peralta has contributed five declarations to this action. Plaintiffs initially filed a declaration from Mr. Peralta along with their motion for class certification. (1st Peralta Deel. (Dkt. # 38).) Defendant United Bank Card, Inc. (“UBC”) then filed a second Peralta declaration along with its response to Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. (2d Peralta Deel. (Dkt. # 53).) Plaintiffs filed a third Peralta declaration in conjunction with its motion to supplement the record. (3d Peralta Deel. (Dkt. # 80).) With their motion for reconsideration, Plaintiffs filed a foui’th Peralta declaration. (4th Peralta Deck (Dkt. #85).) Finally, in response to Plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration, UBC filed the fifth and final Peralta declaration. (5th Peralta Deck (Dkt. #90).)

Plaintiffs now ask the court for leave to file a second motion for class certification. (Mot. (Dkt. # 103).) Plaintiffs propose a revised class definition as follows:

All persons who received a telephone call made by UBS or on its behalf using an automatic dialing and announcing device, when such a call included a pre-recorded message lasting longer than 30 seconds, contained a commercial solicitation, and was transmitted to a telephone number with a Washington State area code.

(Id. at 6 (footnote omitted).) They also seek significant additional class discovery including (1) taking the deposition of Mr. Peralta, (2) seeking “production and/or inspection of ConnecTel’s dialing equipment and related software, (3) designating and using an expert witness to analyze and produce a report concerning Mr. Peralta’s testimony, ConnecTel’s call records, the dialer(s) used, and the software used in conjunction with the dialer(s), (4) enforcing subpoenas previously issued to IPS’s other third party vendors used to make the pre-recorded solicitation calls, and (5) “compelling] IPS to produce all records regarding telephone calls made by ConnecTel or any other vender it used and/or records of the telephone numbers uploaded to any such vendors’ dialer sites.” (Mot. at 9-10.)

III. ANALYSIS

The court addresses Plaintiffs’ request to reopen class discovery first, and then considers their motion for leave to file a second motion for class certification.

[595]*595A. Plaintiffs’ Motion to Re-Open Class Discovery

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1)(B) provides that “[w]hen an act may or must be done within a specified time, the court may, for good cause, extend the time ... on motion made after the time has expired if the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(b)(1)(B). Here, the court issued an order directing Plaintiffs to complete class discovery no later than May 12, 2012. (See 3/23/12 Order (Dkt.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
291 F.R.D. 591, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98120, 2013 WL 1442310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartman-v-united-bank-card-inc-wawd-2013.