Mack v. General Motors Acceptance Corp.

169 F.R.D. 671, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20318, 1996 WL 725946
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedDecember 10, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 95-T-1000-N
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 169 F.R.D. 671 (Mack v. General Motors Acceptance Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mack v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 169 F.R.D. 671, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20318, 1996 WL 725946 (M.D. Ala. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

MYRON H. THOMPSON, Chief Judge.

Upon consideration of the recommendations of the United States Magistrate Judge entered on November 21, 1996, and the objections filed by plaintiff on December 4, 1996, and after an independent review of the file, it is the ORDER, JUDGMENT, and DECREE of the court:

(1) That the recommendations of the United States Magistrate Judge are adopted;

(2) That the objections filed by plaintiff are overruled.

(3) That the motion for class certification filed by plaintiff on June 28, 1996, is denied;

(4) That the motion to intervene and to abate action filed by Shirley Wright on September 17,1996, is denied; and

(5) That the application for preliminary injunction filed by plaintiff on October 4, 1996, is denied.

RECOMMENDATION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE

CARROLL, Chief United States Magistrate Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 27, 1995, the plaintiff, Sandra Mack, filed this action against General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC). In her complaint, she alleges that General Motors Acceptance Corporation

engages in a practice of paying secret kickbacks to car dealers who procure financing for consumers at inflated rates. General Motors dealers customarily undertake to find financing for consumers in connection with automobile purchases. GMAC evaluates the consumer’s credit and determines the rate at which it will accept a retail installment contract. In order to encourage dealers to do business with GMAC instead of competing financial institutions, GMAC allows the dealers to represent to consumers that their transactions have been approved at a rate higher than that at which they were actually approved by GMAC. The extra profit resulting from the difference between the rate approved by GMAC and the rate represented by the dealer is divided by GMAC and the dealer.

The plaintiff claims that GMAC’s activities violate RICO (Count I), constitute fraud by suppression under Alabama law (Count II) and induce breach of fiduciary and contractual duties undertaken by the dealers (Counts III and IV). She seeks compensatory and punitive damages. This cause is currently pending before the court on a motion for class certification filed by the plaintiff on June 28, 1996. She seeks certification of a nationwide class of persons who satisfy the following criteria:

(1) They signed a retail installment contract with a car dealer that was assigned to GMAC;

[674]*674(2) The finance charge on the retail installment contract is in excess of the finance charge at which GMAC approved the purchase of the contract; and

(3) The contract was signed within the period beginning July 27,1991.

The defendants filed a response to the motion and the court set a hearing on the motion for September 18, 1996. At a prehearing conference held in this case on August 20, 1996, the parties indicated that the motion could be resolved without a hearing. The court then allowed the parties to file additional evidence and briefs on the class certification issue, and on September 18, 1996, the motion was deemed to be under submission.

II. FACTS1

General Motors Acceptance Corporation is in the business of purchasing retail installment contracts from automobile dealers under a process known as GMAC’s retail plan. According to the affidavit of Joyce Wiedman, a branch manager for GMAC in Birmingham, the retail plan requires the dealership to complete a customer statement. The dealer transmits the customer statement by facsimile, personal delivery, or computer transfer to GMAC. GMAC then analyzes the information provided by the dealership and makes a credit decision as to whether GMAC would be agreeable to purchasing a retail installment contract from the dealership. GMAC also determines and communicates the buy rate tier in which the application falls. Periodically, GMAC sets buy rates for various credit tiers. GMAC does not set a particular buy rate as the result of any particular contract offered by a dealer. The finance rate which the consumer ultimately pays is a matter of negotiation and agreement between the automobile dealership and its customer. GMAC is not informed of the rate agreed to by the dealer and its customer until it receives the signed contract for purchase from the dealer. The Annual Percentage Rate that the customer must pay is disclosed but no mention is made to the customer about the buy rate from GMAC to the dealership. GMAC as a matter of policy does not enter into direct financing transactions with retail customers and does not disclose its buy rates to those customers.

On April 20, 1992, the plaintiff Sandra Mack purchased a used 1990 Chevrolet Beretta from Strickland Chevrolet in Pelham, Aabama. Strickland undertook to find financing for the plaintiff and submitted the plaintiffs application and credit information to GMAC. GMAC approved the plaintiffs credit application and informed Strickland that it would purchase a retail installment contract financing the plaintiffs transaction at the buy rate. Strickland then prepared a Retail Installment Sale Contract listing the plaintiff as the Buyer and Strickland Chevrolet as the creditor. Ms. Mack agreed to pay interest at an APR of 21.5%. The “buy” rate for Ms. Mack’s contract was 16.75%. Strickland Chevrolet and GMAC then split the amount of money generated by the difference between the interest rate charged the plaintiff and the “buy” rate.2 Since July 27,1991, GMAC has purchased over 7 million retail installment contracts from dealers under its retail plan.

III. DISCUSSION

■ A THE THRESHOLD REQUIREMENTS—

Rule 23(a)

Rule 23(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure specifies four prerequisites to maintaining a suit as a class action:

One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of a class only if the (1) class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of [675]*675law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative party are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class.

The burden is on the party who seeks to certify a suit as a class action to show that the prerequisites of Rule 23(a) are established. Nelson v. United States Steel Corp., 709 F.2d 675, 679 (11th Cir.1983); Earnest v. General Motors Corp., 923 F.Supp. 1469, 1473 (N.D.Ala. 1996).

B. NUMEROSITY — Rule 23(a)(1)

The plaintiff seeks certification of a class of persons who signed retail installment contracts and agreed to pay an interest rate in excess of the buy rate paid by GMAC to purchase those installment contracts from the dealer. The evidence before the court shows that GMAC purchased 7 million installment contracts from dealers during the relevant period of time. Although there is no evidence which would establish the exact number of class members, there is a logical inference that the class could easily number in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps in the millions.

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169 F.R.D. 671, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20318, 1996 WL 725946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mack-v-general-motors-acceptance-corp-almd-1996.