Lightbourne v. Printroom Inc.

307 F.R.D. 593, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2177, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102671, 2015 WL 4604804
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedJuly 30, 2015
DocketCASE NO. SACV 13-876-JLS (RNBx)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 307 F.R.D. 593 (Lightbourne v. Printroom Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lightbourne v. Printroom Inc., 307 F.R.D. 593, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2177, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102671, 2015 WL 4604804 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION (Doc. 158)

JOSEPHINE L. STATON, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

I. INTRODUCTION

Before the Court is a Motion for Class Certification filed by Plaintiff Yahehaaroah [596]*596Lightbourne. (Mot., Doc. 158.) Defendant CBS Interactive, Inc. opposed, and Lightb-ourne replied. (Opp., Doc. 167; Reply, Doc. 223.) Having read and considered the papers, heard oral argument, and taken the matter under submission, the Court DENIES the Motion.

II. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Yahchaaroah Lightbourne played college football at the University of Texas at El Paso from 2009 to 2011. (Opp. at 3.)

Defendant CBS Interactive, Inc. (“CBSI”) entered into agreements with various National Collegiate Athletic Association member institutions, including UTEP, to provide various services for those institutions’ athletic department websites, including selling photographs of student-athletes on the websites. (Mot. at 3.) CBSI and the institutions would then split revenues from online photograph sales. (Id.)

To facilitate these sales, CBSI partnered with Defendant Printroom, which provided “custom branded [photo] storefronts to match the look and feel” of each school’s official athletic website. (Id.) This provided an “integrated photo experience that drives ad impressions, social media activity and traffic, and most of all revenue.” (Id.) Visitors to these online photo stores could purchase photographs of student-athletes either alone or affixed to merchandise such as “mugs, holiday ornaments, mousepads, note pads, magnets, playing cards and more.” (Id. at 3-4.) More than 10,000 photographs were purchased alone or in various frames. (Opp. at 3.) Sales of other merchandise were meager; only three customers ever bought a photo on a mug, mousepad, magnet, calendar, or greeting card, while three sets of greeting cards were sold to two buyers, both of whom shared a last name with the depicted athlete. (Id. at 2-3.) Twenty four diploma frames were sold, however, the photos affixed to ten of them did not depict student-athletes, while ten were sold to relatives of the depicted student-athletes. (Id. at 3.)

Once the arrangement with Printroom began, CBSI provided schools with instructions on how to upload photographs to CBSI’s online management tool, known as Netitor. CBSI would then transfer those photographs to the photo stores. (Mot. at 4.) The photographs were typically uploaded by photographers working for, or affiliated with, the university athletic departments. (Opp. at 2.)

UTEP’s photo store displayed a total of nine images of Lightbourne, each of which was taken by a UTEP staff photographer and posted in an album titled with the depicted game or practice with descriptions including Lightbourne’s name and jersey number. (Id. at 4.) Eight of the photos depicted Lightbourne in a game; the ninth depicted Lightbourne with two members of UTEP’s athletic department staff. (Id.) One customer purchased a single a photograph depicting Lightbourne—a 5x7 photograph purchased by his then-girlfriend. (Id.) No merchandise bearing Lightbourne’s likeness was ever sold. (Id.)

On June 11, 2013, Lightbourne filed a Class Action Complaint for violation of his right of publicity against Printroom as well as Defendants Professional Photo Storefronts, Inc. and Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc.1 (Compl., Doe. 1.) On April 10, 2014, Lightbourne filed the operative First Amended Class Action Complaint adding CBSI as a Defendant. (FAC, Doc. 69, ¶¶ 91-102.) In addition to the right of publicity claim, the FAC also asserts a claim against all Defendants for civil conspiracy.

On September 23, 2014, CBSI cross-claimed against the other Defendants for indemnity, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and declaratory relief. (Answer, Affirmative Defenses, and Crossclaims, Doc. 108.) CBSI alleges they are obligated to indemnify it to the extent it is liable to Plaintiff or any certified class. (Id.)

Lightbourne now seeks certification of the following nationwide class pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b)(3) [597]*597as to his right of publicity claim under Cal. Civ.Code § 3344:

Any current or former NCAA student-athlete whose name, assigned jersey number, or face (defined as a full face with two visible eyes) appears in a photograph that was publieally available on the website Printroom.com or whose name was used on Printroom.com.

(Mot. at 1.) It is unknown how many student-athletes fall within this definition, however, Lightbourne’s expert estimates the online photo stores displayed 638,552 images containing the likenesses of more than 1,120,-000 student-athletes.2 (Reply at 22.)

III. LEGAL STANDARD

“A party seeking class certification must satisfy the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and the requirements of at least one of the categories under Rule 23(b).” Wang v. Chinese Daily News, Inc., 737 F.3d 538, 542 (9th Cir.2013). Rule 23(a) “requires a party seeking class certification to satisfy four requirements: numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation.” Id. (citing Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, — U.S.-, 131 S.Ct. 2541, 180 L.Ed.2d 374 (2011)). Rule 23(a) provides:

One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all members only 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).

“Rule 23 does not set forth a mere pleading standard. A party seeking class certification must affirmatively demonstrate his compliance with the Rule—that is, he must be prepared to prove that there are in fact sufficiently numerous parties, common questions of law or fact, etc.” Dukes, 131 S.Ct. at 2551. This requires a district court to conduct a “rigorous analysis” that frequently “will entail some overlap with the merits of the plaintiffs underlying claim.” Id.

“Second, the proposed class must satisfy at least one of the three requirements listed in Rule 23(b).” Id. at 2548.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
307 F.R.D. 593, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2177, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102671, 2015 WL 4604804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lightbourne-v-printroom-inc-cacd-2015.