Picus v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

256 F.R.D. 651, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23969, 2009 WL 667419
District Court, D. Nevada·Decided March 16, 2009·No. Nos. 2:07-CV-00682-PMP-LRL, 2:07-CV-00686-PMP-LRL, 2:07-CV-00689-PMP-LRL·Published·Cited by 50 cases

Opinion

ORDER

PHILIP M. PRO, District Judge.

Presently before the Court is Defendants Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Sunshine Mills, Inc.’s Motion to Deny Class Certification (Doe. # 58), filed on December 14, 2007. Plaintiff filed an Opposition (Doc. #59) on January 16, 2008. Defendants Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Sunshine Mills, Inc. filed a Reply (Doc. # 62) on February 14, 2008. Defendants Menu Foods, Inc. and Del Monte Foods Company filed Joinders (Doc. # 63 & [654] # 65) to the Motion to Deny Class Certification.

Pursuant to this Court’s Order (Doc. # 69), Plaintiff filed a Supplemental Brief in Opposition to the Motion to Deny Class Certification (Doc. # 70) on December 5, 2008. Defendants filed a Supplemental Brief in support of the Motion to Deny Class Certification (Doc. # 75) on January 12, 2009.

I. BACKGROUND

On April 30, 2007, Plaintiff Margaret Pi-cus filed a class action in Nevada state court, alleging a scheme among Defendants to sell “01’ Roy” brand pet food products to consumers as “Made in the USA,” when in fact components were manufactured outside of the United States. (Am. Notice Removal Def. Wal-Mart, Stores, Inc. (Doc. #5) at 2 & Ex. A [“Compl.”] ¶¶ 1, 9.) Plaintiff alleges the “Made in the USA” labels were in capital and bold lettering and were substantially the same on all 01’ Roy products sold to consumers at Wal-Mart stores throughout the United States. (Compl.lfil 2-A.) However, Plaintiff claims 01’ Roy pet foods contained ingredients, specifically wheat gluten, which were manufactured in China. (Id. ¶¶ 5, 7.) Plaintiff originally asserted three claims against Defendants: (1) violation of the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act (“NDTPA”) and similar statutes in other states; (2) fraud; and (3) unjust enrichment. (Id. at 12-18.) Plaintiff sought relief on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated. (Id. at 18.)

In the Complaint, Plaintiff defined the proposed class as “all individuals in the United States who purchased one or more 01’ Roy brand pet food products prior to March 16,-2007.” (Id. ¶ 21.) Plaintiff subsequently amended the class definition:

All individuals in the United States who purchased one or more 01’ Roy brand pet food products designated as made in USA prior to March 16, 2007 and beginning on the date to be discovered when the 01’ Roy brand pet food was first mislabeled as made in USA. Excluded from this class are those persons who have received a full refund of them purchases of 01’ Roy pet food and those persons who have asserted a legal action in MDL 1850 or otherwise claim injury to their pet as a result of consumption of 01’ Roy brand pet food.

(Am.Compl.(Doc.# 56).)

Defendant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. removed the action to this Court on May 25, 2007. (Am. Notice Removal Def. Wal-Mart, Stores, Inc.) On June 21, 2007, the Court consolidated this case with two other cases. (Order (Doc. # 15).) The Judicial Panel on Multidis-trict Litigation conditionally transferred this case to the District of New Jersey for consolidated pretrial proceedings in In re Pet Food Products Liability Litigation (“MDL 1850”), but the transfer since has been vacated. 544 F.Supp.2d 1378, 1379 n. 1 (J.P.M.L.2008). On November 18, 2008, the District of New Jersey approved a settlement in MDL 1850. In re Pet Food Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 07-2867(NLH), 2008 WL 4937632, at *275 (D.N.J.2008) (unpublished).

Meanwhile, on October 12, 2007, this Court granted a partial motion to dismiss in this ease, to the extent Plaintiff requested injunc-tive and other equitable relief under the NDTPA. (Order (Doc. # 47) at 14.) Subsequently, Defendants moved to deny class certification of Plaintiffs proposed amended class. The Court deferred all discovery until ten days after resolution of this motion. (Order (Doc. #55).) The Court also ordered the parties to provide the Court supplemental briefing as to the material differences in state law for Plaintiffs deceptive trade practices, fraud, and unjust enrichment claims, as well as to the discovery necessary to determine the applicable law. (Order (Doc. # 69) at 9-10.)

In her supplemental briefing and proposed First Amended Complaint (“Proposed FAC”) attached thereto, Plaintiff eliminated her fraud and unjust enrichment claims, as well as limited the class to residents of Nevada, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Oregon (the “Subject States”) who purchased 01’ Roy pet food in the state in which they reside:

AH residents of California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon who purchased one or more of the specified 01’ Roy pet food products designated as “Made in the USA” in the state in which they reside prior to March 16, 2007 [655] and beginning on the date to be discovered when the OF Roy brand pet food was first mislabeled as “Made in the USA.” (“Class Period”) Excluded from this Class are those persons who have received a full refund of all their purchases of OF Roy Pet Food and those persons whose only purchases of OF Roy pet food products were Recalled Pet Food Products subject to the Order approving the settlement in MDL 1850.

(Pl.’s Supplemental Brief in Opp’n to Mot. to Deny Class Certification (Doc. # 70), Deel. of Normal B. Blumenthal, Ex. 1 [“Proposed FAC”] ¶ 20.)

Plaintiff now argues the Court should deny Defendants’ Motion to Deny Class Certification because the Subject States’ statutes all expressly outlaw sales of products mislabeled as to geographic origin. Thus, Plaintiff contends, no conflicts of law remain, no discovery is required to determine the applicable state law, and the Court can apply Nevada law to the class action. Plaintiff also requests to file the Proposed FAC.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 requires the Court to determine whether to certify a class “[a]t an early practicable time after a person sues or is sued as a class representative.”1 Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(c)(1)(A). In some cases, discovery is necessary to determine the existence of a class. Kamm v. Cal. City Dev. Co., 509 F.2d 205, 210 (9th Cir.1975). Indeed, “dismissal of class allegations at the pleading stage should be done rarely and ... the better course is to deny such a motion because the shape and form of a class action evolves only through the process of discovery.” In re Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wage & Hour Litig., 505 F.Supp.2d 609, 615 (N.D.Cal.2007) (quotation omitted); see also Doninger v. Pac. Nw. Bell, Inc., 564 F.2d 1304, 1313 (9th Cir.l977)(“[T]he better and more advisable practice for a District Court to follow is to afford the litigants an opportunity to present evidence as to whether a class action [is] maintainable.”).

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Picus v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 256 F.R.D. 651, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23969, 2009 WL 667419 (D. Nev. 2009).

256 F.R.D. 651 (Picus v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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