McManus v. Sturm Foods Inc.

292 F.R.D. 606, 2013 WL 4510109, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120705
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 26, 2013
DocketCivil No. 11-565-GPM
StatusPublished

This text of 292 F.R.D. 606 (McManus v. Sturm Foods Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McManus v. Sturm Foods Inc., 292 F.R.D. 606, 2013 WL 4510109, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120705 (S.D. Ill. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MURPHY, District Judge:

On April 15, 2013 the Court heard argument on Plaintiffs’ pending motion for class certification. (Doc. 99). Plaintiffs claim that Defendant Sturm Foods, a dry grocery manufacturer and distributor, and Defendant Treehouse, as Sturm’s sole owner, violated the consumer protection statutes and unjust enrichment laws of the eight named states with regard to their Grove Square Coffee single serving coffee product (Doc. 53). Per the amended complaint, Defendants misrepresented and omitted the true nature of Grove Square Coffee products by indicating the product contained fresh ground coffee and a filter rather than “instant” or “soluble” coffee (Doc. 53). Plaintiffs now seek certification of a class consisting of:

Al persons or consumers that during the Class Period—from September of 2010, until and including the present who purchased in Aabama, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee Defendants’ Grove Square Coffee (“GSQ”) products. Excluded from the class are: (a) Defendants’ Board members of executive-level officers, including its attorneys; (b) persons or entities who purchased the GSQ primarily for resale; (e) retailers or resellers of the GSQ; (d) governmental enti[610]*610ties; and (e) any consumer that already received a refund from Defendants.

(Doc. 99, p. 25-26). After consideration of all the parties’ papers and arguments, the motion is DENIED.

A. Class Certification Standard

To be certifiable, a class must first be definable, and then meet the requirements of numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a); Alliance to End Repression v. Rochford, 565 F.2d 975, 977 (7th Cir.1977). If the action meets those requirements, it must also fall within one of the three enumerated Rule 23(b) categories. Spano v. The Boeing Co., 633 F.3d 574, 583 (7th Cir.2011) (“(1) a mandatory class action (2) an action seeking final injunctive or declaratory relief, or (3) a case in which the common questions predominate and class treatment is superior.”).

Although the courts have broad discretion in deciding whether a proposed class satisfies Rule 23 requirements and should err in favor of maintaining class actions, the burden of proof falls to the party seeking class certification. Trotter v. Klincar, 748 F.2d 1177, 1184 (7th Cir.1984); Arreola v. Godinez, 546 F.3d 788, 794 (7th Cir.2008); Messner v. Northshore Univ. HealthSystem, 669 F.3d 802, 811 (7th Cir.2012). The plaintiff must “establish (not merely allege) that the elements of Rule 23(a) are met.” Howland v. First American Title Ins. Co., 672 F.3d 525, 528 (7th Cir.2012). Class certification is a rigorous analysis in which courts may look beyond the pleadings to considerations that are “enmeshed with the merits of the claim” to determine if Rule 23’s requirements are met, Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, - U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 1426, 1429, 185 L.Ed.2d 515 (2013); while at the same time avoiding a “dress rehearsal on the merits,” Messner, 669 F.3d at 811.

B. Definiteness

The Court must first ensure that the class is sufficiently “defined.” Jamie S. v. Milwaukee Public Schools, 668 F.3d 481, 493 (7th Cir.2012) (“a class must be sufficiently definite that its members are ascertainable.”). The class should be “ascertainable,” which it is if the court can determine membership with objective criteria. Jamie S. v. Milwaukee Public Schools, 668 F.3d 481, 493 (7th Cir.2012). A class is, on the other hand, overbroad if it sweeps in a great number of members who “for some reason could not have been harmed by the defendant’s allegedly unlawful conduct.” Messner, 669 F.3d 802 at 824; Kohen v. Pacific Inv. Management Co. LLC, 571 F.3d 672, 677 (7th Cir. 2009) (“a class should not be certified if it is apparent that it contains a great many persons who have suffered no injury at the hands of the defendant.”); Oshana v. Coca-Cola Co., 472 F.3d 506, 514 (7th Cir.2006) (denying class certification when “[cjountless members of Oshana’s putative class could not show any damage, let alone damage proximately caused by Coke’s alleged deception.”).

A class is overbroad if it sweeps in many members who coidd not have been harmed at all:

This distinction is critical for class certification purposes ... [I]f a proposed class consists largely (or entirely, for that matter) of members who are ultimately shown to have suffered no harm, that may not mean that the class was improperly certified but only that the class failed to meet its burden of proof on the merits. If, however, a class is defined so broadly as to include a great number of members who for some reason could not have been harmed by the defendant’s allegedly unlawful conduct, the class is defined too broadly to permit certification.

Messner, 669 F.3d at 824 (internal citations omitted). The class cannot, then, include numerous people who have no claim at all. For example, in Oshana, the Seventh Circuit confirmed that a putative class was not sufficiently definite when the class definition could include millions of people who were not injured. 472 F.3d at 513. The plaintiff in Oshana sued Coca-Cola for, inter alia, violation of Illinois’s Deceptive Practices Act, violation of which requires a plaintiff to have been deceived and harmed by that deception. Id. at 513-14. The Seventh Circuit noted:

Such a class could include millions who were not deceived and thus have no grievance under the [Act]. Some people may have bought fountain Diet Coke because it contained saccharin, and some people may [611]*611have bought fountain Diet Coke even though it had saccharin. Countless members of Oshana’s putative class could not show any damage, let alone damage proximately caused by Coke’s deception.

Id. at 514 (emphasis in original) (The Court found the putative class failed to show ‘typicality’ for the same reasons).

1. Definiteness of the Consumer Protection State Law Claims

Plaintiffs have moved for certification of eight subclasses, each comprised of class members bringing claims under their respective state consumer protection and unjust enrichment laws. (Does. 99, p. 25-26; 111— 1).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
292 F.R.D. 606, 2013 WL 4510109, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcmanus-v-sturm-foods-inc-ilsd-2013.