Hickey v. Great Western Mortgage Corp.

158 F.R.D. 603, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16231, 1994 WL 631142
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedNovember 8, 1994
DocketNo. 94 C 3638
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 158 F.R.D. 603 (Hickey v. Great Western Mortgage Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hickey v. Great Western Mortgage Corp., 158 F.R.D. 603, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16231, 1994 WL 631142 (N.D. Ill. 1994).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CONLON, District Judge.

Lawrence J. Hickey, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, sues Great Western Mortgage Corporation (“Great Western”) for violations of the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq. (Count I), and for unfair and deceptive trade practices under the California Business and Professions Code §§ 17200,17500 (Count II). The violations stem from allegedly improper financial disclosures in consumer credit transactions. Hickey moves to certify the class. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23.

BACKGROUND

In ruling on a motion for class certification, the allegations of the complaint are taken as true. Allen v. Isaac, 99 F.R.D. 45, 49 (N.D.Ill.1983). Great Western lends money to consumers in exchange for finance charges. Great Western’s principal place of business is in California, and it has engaged in more than 25 consumer credit transactions in each of the past several years. On August 6, 1993, Hickey and Great Western refinanced the mortgage on Hickey’s family home in Massachusetts. Because Great Western was subject to TILA and various state consumer protection laws, it was required to provide Hickey with accurate disclosures of the “finance charge” and “amount financed” for the loan. At issue are two fees imposed by an attorney at the closing: a $42 Federal Express charge and a $25 discharge service fee. Hickey alleges that Great Western faded to include these charges in the “finance charge” and instead included them in the “amount financed” figure, thereby rendering Hickey with inaccurate disclosures of both the “finance charge” and the “amount financed.”

In addition, Hickey alleges that Great Western prepared its truth-in-lending disclosures according to standardized procedures, and that it was the policy and practice of Great Western to exclude from the “finance charge” and include in the “amount financed” figure (1) charges for the transportation of documents and cheeks, such as Federal Express fees; and (2) charges for Great Western’s overhead expense in obtaining releases of prior encumbrances, such as the discharge service fee. As a result, Hickey sues on behalf of a class that was also provided with inaccurate disclosure statements with respect to these fees, a class that Hickey estimates to be in the thousands. Hickey proposes the following class definition:

The class consists of all persons, located anywhere within the United States, who satisfy the following criteria:

(a) They entered into a transaction with Great Western which Great Western documented as a consumer credit transaction, by providing Truth in Lending disclosures.
(b) Great Western, when making Truth in Lending disclosures, excluded from the “finance charge,” and included in the “amount financed,” charges for the transportation of documents and checks, such as courier fees, and/or charges for services relating to obtaining and recording releases of prior encumbrances, such as the discharge service fees.
[607]*607The class period is one year prior to the filing of this complaint for purposes of Count I and three years for purposes of Count II.1

Hickey’s motion to certify the class is presently before the court.

DISCUSSION

In order to maintain a class action, Hickey must satisfy the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and (b). Retired Chicago Police Ass’n v. City of Chicago, 7 F.3d 584, 596 (7th Cir.1993). Rule 23(a) requires that (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). If these prerequisites are satisfied, the court must determine whether one of the standards of Rule 23(b) is met. Patrykus v. Gomilla, 121 F.R.D. 357, 360 (N.D.Ill.1988). Here, Hickey looks to Rule 23(b)(3) and asserts that questions of law or fact common to the class predominate over questions affecting only individual members. In addition, Hickey claims that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of this controversy. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3).

In assessing the certification petition, the court assumes the allegations in the complaint are true and does not examine the merits, Allen, 99 F.R.D. at 49, although “[t]he boundary between a class determination and the merits may not always be easily discernible.” Eggleston v. Chicago Journeymen Plumbers’ Local Union, 657 F.2d 890, 895 (7th Cir.1981); accord General Tel. Co. of Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 160, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 2372, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982). Failure to meet any one of the requirements of Rule 23 precludes certification of the class. Patterson v. General Motors Corp., 631 F.2d 476, 480 (7th Cir.1980). Nevertheless, the Rule 23 standards should be read in light of Congress’ vision of the class action as “necessary to elevate truth-in-lending lawsuits from file ineffective ‘nuisance category’ to the type of suit which has enough sting to insure that management will strive with diligence to achieve compliance.” Bantolina v. Aloha Motors, 419 F.Supp. 1116, 1120 (D.Haw.1976) (quoting Federal Reserve Board, 1972 Annual Report on Truth in Lending). Hickey bears the burden of showing that certification is proper. Trotter v. Klincar, 748 F.2d 1177, 1184 (7th Cir.1984).

Hickey estimates that there are thousands of putative class members. Great Western does not contest this formulation or otherwise argue numerosity. Accordingly, the court finds that Hickey has established nu-merosity. The other requirements of Rule 23 are considered in turn.

I. Adequacy

Great Western first contends that Hickey is not an adequate class representative. Rule 23(a)(4) requires that the class representative fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. This inquiry is composed of two parts. First, the court considers whether the named plaintiffs counsel is competent to represent the interests of the class adequately and whether counsel is able to prosecute the claim effectively. Second, the court must look at the class representative and determine whether he will adequately protect “the different, separate, and distinct interest of the class members.” See Retired Chicago Police Ass’n, 7 F.3d at 598 (quoting Secretary of Labor v. Fitzsimmons, 805 F.2d 682, 697 (7th Cir.1986)).

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Bluebook (online)
158 F.R.D. 603, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16231, 1994 WL 631142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hickey-v-great-western-mortgage-corp-ilnd-1994.