McDermott v. Hollander

60 F.R.D. 643, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 740, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12948
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedJune 28, 1973
DocketCiv. A. No. 72-2062
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 60 F.R.D. 643 (McDermott v. Hollander) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDermott v. Hollander, 60 F.R.D. 643, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 740, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12948 (E.D. La. 1973).

Opinion

ALVIN B. RUBIN, District Judge:

The two plaintiffs seek to maintain a class action in this suit under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq., more commonly known as the Truth-in-Lending Act. They contend that they each purchased a set of books from a salesman employed by Hollander on a time payment basis, signed a promissory note, and received a Truth-in-Lending disclosure representing that no financial charge was imposed. The disclosure statement represented the deferred payment price to be the same as the cash price and the annual interest percentage rate to be zero. The plaintiffs further contend that their notes were sold at a discount to Consumers Credit, pursuant to a prearranged plan, and that this discount represents a finance charge.1

Asserting pendent jurisdiction, the plaintiffs allege as a separate claim that the books were impliedly represented to be new and were in fact used.

Both defendants urge dismissal of the class action on the basis that the requisites of Rule 23, F.R.Civ.P., have not been satisfied. While the defendants challenge compliance with every requisite of Rule 23, most of the disputes can be quickly resolved.

NUMEROSITY—ADEQUACY OF REPRESENTATION

The exact number of potential class members has not been ascertained, but there is evidence that it amounts to a sufficiently large number of persons to warrant a class action, but not more than a maximum of 300. The plaintiffs contend that their discovery indicates a class embracing 223 persons. By their diligent pursuit of discovery procedures and by the effective representation afforded by their counsel, the plaintiffs have shown that they can fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. While they have sued in forma pauperis, they have obtained qualified counsel, and there is no requirement in Rule 23 that class action representation be permitted only to the nonindigent.

TYPICALITY

The assertion that the plaintiffs in demanding recission of the transaction do not have a “claim that is typical” merely concerns the remedy that will be afforded, not the question whether there is a right to relief and whether the claim itself is typical. If the validity of the claim is established, different relief may be afforded various members of the class or, as discussed below, the entire question of relief may be reserved for individual actions, and class action status allowed only for the determination of rights. The plaintiffs’ claim is typical; it is not necessary that the relief be universal.

The defendants’ argument that “most of the members of the asserted class are happy with the merchandise purchased” [645]*645awaits proof just as does the plaintiffs’ argument that many were sold merchandise that was misrepresented. Defendants’ conclusion certainly does not follow from the lender’s affidavit that few complaints have been received. If there are buyers who are happy, they may opt out of the class, or be shown in an appropriate manner to be satisfied.

SUPERIORITY OF CLASS ACTION

The issue deserving fuller treatment is raised in connection with Rule 23(b) (3): whether the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over questions affecting only individual members and whether a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy.

There can be no doubt that two questions are common to all members of the class: whether the discount allowed to Consumers Credit was a finance charge; and whether the cash price and the time price were in truth the same or whether this was a fiction adopted to conceal a time payment charge when there were to be few if any cash sales. These issues are not likely to splinter the class into individual trials. See Comment, Litigating the Anti-Trust Conspiracy Under Amended Rule 23,' 1968, 54 Va.L.Rev. 314, 319. It will not require extended proof, if indeed it is disputed at all, whether there was the disclosure of a finance charge in each transaction. This can be determined, if disputed, simply by examining file copies of the statements. Similarly since form notes were used, there ought to be no difficulty in determining the provisions of the promissory notes.

It is true that, with respect to the pendent claim, some evidence with respect to individual class members will be necessary to determine whether Hollander or his salesmen promised new books and delivered used ones. But if a reasonable number of these claims can be proved (or disproved), then a general determination of rights can be made before addressing the issue of the manner of affording relief.

CLASS ACTIONS UNDER TRUTH-IN-LENDING

The final, and most difficult issue, relates to whether a class action may be maintained under the Truth-in-Lending Act. While the court was engaged in rereading and considering the many district court decisions that have examined that question (most of which have resolved it by denying the right to a class action), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rendered an opinion that goes to the heart of the problem. Katz v. Carte Blanche Corporation, 3 Cir. 1973, noted in 41 L.W. 2661.

The Third Circuit refused to set aside the district court’s determination that a Truth-in-Lending suit involving a class with a potential of 800,000 members could proceed as a class action. It noted that the district court retains discretion to modify that determination at any time before a final decision on the merits. “This includes the discretion to decide later that class status was improperly granted and to dismiss that element of the proceeding.”

With respect to the argument that some issues in the ease would require consideration of individual claims, the Court said:

Merely because the district court has decided to litigate one' issue of this suit in a class action does not freeze it into disposing of the remaining issues through this procedural vehicle. Indeed, class proceedings may well be inappropriate for litigating these issues; the district court legitimately could conclude that class litigation would not prove the superior and most efficient method of adjudicating these subsidiary controversies.

The Court rejected the contention that a class action is not appropriate for re[646]*646lief under the Truth-in-Lending Act. It said:

Defendant’s contention assumes a positive correlation between class litigation on the underlying legal issues posed by the Act and class litigation on the issues of damages. However, because of the earlier discussed structure of Rule 23, merely because class treatment has been afforded litigation of the underlying legal issues does not mean that the issue of damages must be similarly adjudicated. Although Congressional policy in the Act may militate against class enforcement of the damage provisions, we do not believe this alleged prohibition in any way affects our determination that the question of whéther a violation of the Act’s provisions occurred can be litigated in a class proceeding.
First, there is no express proscription against class treatment of private suits prosecuted under the Act.

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60 F.R.D. 643, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 740, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12948, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdermott-v-hollander-laed-1973.