Northwestern Fruit Co. v. A. Levy & J. Zentner Co.

116 F.R.D. 384, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27764
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMarch 24, 1986
DocketNo. CV F-84-263-EDP
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 116 F.R.D. 384 (Northwestern Fruit Co. v. A. Levy & J. Zentner Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northwestern Fruit Co. v. A. Levy & J. Zentner Co., 116 F.R.D. 384, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27764 (E.D. Cal. 1986).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW RE CLASS CERTIFICATION

PRICE, District Judge.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiffs have satisfied the requirement of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(1) (numerosity), 23(a)(2) (existence of common questions), and 23(a)(4) (adequacy of representation), as well as Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2) (injunctive relief). Of the four provisions of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a), defendants only contest satisfaction of 23(a)(3) (typicality of claim). Defendants also contest satisfaction of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3) (predominance of common questions and superiority of class certification to other alternatives).

2. Defendants impose a cooling and palletizing charge when they sell cantaloupes to purchasers, and in the vast majority of sales the cooling and palletizing charge is separately stated, as well as arithmetically included in the “bottom line” paid by the cantaloupe purchaser.

3. The standard cooling and palletizing charge imposed by defendants was $.75 per carton in 1980; in the summer and fall of 1981 the standard cooling and palletizing charge was $.80 per carton; and in 1982 and 1983 the standard cooling and palletizing charge was $.80 per carton.

4. In all but rare instances, the standard cooling and palletizing charge was paid by cantaloupe purchasers.

5. Large purchasers, as well as smaller purchasers, paid the same standard charge to defendants.

6. Although defendants took various depositions, defendants did not introduce any testimony or declarations from class members stating that they consider the class representatives atypical or that they oppose class certification. To the contrary, three large class members, including Safeway Stores and Lucky Stores, filed declarations supporting class certification.

7. There is evidence that the same standard charge was imposed in virtually all types of transactions, including F.O.B. sales, delivered sales, and consignment sales.

8. Defendants introduced no expert testimony from any economists to support their argument that differences in the way that purchasers buy are relevant to class [386]*386determination issues. On the contrary, plaintiffs’ experts have stated that differences in the way purchasers buy are irrelevant if purchasers paid the same standard charge.

9. The Court finds that plaintiffs have adequately demonstrated that impact and the measure of damages may be determined from economic evidence common to the class.

10. On occasion, cantaloupes are sold without being cooled and palletized, and on those occasions no cooling and palletizing charge is paid. However, those transactions are not included within the proposed class, as defined, because the class is limited by definition to direct purchasers of cantaloupes who “paid the cooling and Palletizing charges imposed by defendants.”

11. There are numerous questions of law or fact common to the class. The common questions of law or fact include the following broad issues, each of which encompasses many subsidiary issues of law or fact also common to the class:

(i) Whether the defendants conspired to fix the charges for the cooling and palletizing of cantaloupes;

(ii) Whether each defendant participated in the conspiracy;

(iii) Whether as a result of defendants’ conduct, the charges for the cooling and palletizing of cantaloupes exceeded the cost-based charges that would have resulted from competition, and if so by what measure;

(iv) Whether the defendants’ actions violated the Sherman Act; and

(v) Whether defendants’ conspiracy has continued and should be enjoined.

In the absence of class certification, any individual plaintiff who sought to recover against the defendants would have to establish these same facts, using the same evidence, and overcoming the same defenses. For example, each individual plaintiff would have to prove the same conspiracy, and would necessarily resort to the same evidence to do so.

12. Plaintiffs’ experts have stated that impact (i.e., the fact of some damage caused by the conspiracy) and measure of damages can be and would be determined on the basis common to the class. Defendants introduced no economic testimony to the contrary. Accordingly, the only economic testimony of record supports plaintiffs’ conclusion that impact and the measure of damages can be and would be proved on a basis common to the class.

13. Defendants’ pending summary judgment motions likewise raise predominantly common questions of law and fact. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment .makes three principal arguments.

First, defendants argue that plaintiffs cannot recover for the price fixing of cooling and palletizing charges they pay, because (a) cooling and palletizing and a carton of cantaloupes are a single product; and (b) one cannot recover for price fixing a component of a single product. This ground involves a question of fact common to the class (that is, is a single product involved). It also raises an even more important question of law common to the class (that is, is the “single product” distinction a legally relevant defense). Plaintiffs’ reply—that the price fixing of any charge whatsoever is actionable—is common to every class member.

Defendants’ second joint argument for summary judgment is the economic theory that if one component charge, here the cooling and palletizing charge, is raised, other components will necessarily come down by exactly the same amount.

Defendants’ final joint summary judgment argument is that growers, rather than purchasers, have standing. That argument also is common to the class certification motion. As noted by defendants all members of the purchaser class are similarly situated vis-a-vis defendants’ argument that growers have standing to the exclusion of purchasers.

14. That economic evidence will be common to the class is illustrated by a concession in the Declaration of Roy Bethel In [387]*387Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. Mr. Bethel, on behalf of defendant A.T.B. Packing Co., admits that the “bottom-line” price of cantaloupes is lower (by the precise amount of the standard cooling and palletizing charge) when cooling and palletizing charges are not imposed:

At the request of purchasers, however, the sales agent occasionally handles sales of cantaloupes that have not been cooled or palletized ... Such purchasers are charged $.80 less per carton for cantaloupes that have been neither cooled nor palletized____ (Paragraph 5)

The foregoing admission would be of equal utility to all plaintiffs in disproving defendants’ argument that changes in the cooling and palletizing charge do not affect the “bottom line” price. Like other economic evidence, its utility does not depend on the identity of the particular plaintiff.

15. Plaintiffs estimated that the class includes “several thousand” members. Defendants estimated that the class includes 5,000 to 10,000 class members.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
116 F.R.D. 384, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwestern-fruit-co-v-a-levy-j-zentner-co-caed-1986.