Polo v. Goodings Supermarkets, Inc.

232 F.R.D. 399, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28633, 2004 WL 3550737
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 16, 2004
DocketNo. 6:03CV134ORL-28JGG
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 232 F.R.D. 399 (Polo v. Goodings Supermarkets, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Polo v. Goodings Supermarkets, Inc., 232 F.R.D. 399, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28633, 2004 WL 3550737 (M.D. Fla. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

ANTOON, District Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification (Doc. 58). The United States Magistrate Judge has submitted a Report an Recommendation (Doc. 94) recommending that the motion be denied.

Specifically, the Report concludes that although the numerosity requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(1) is satisfied, the remaining requirements of Rule 23(a) — -commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation — are not met in this case. Additionally, the Report concludes that even if all four elements of Rule 23(a) had been met, the requirements of predominance and superiority in Rule 23(b)(3) are not satisfied in this case either.

Plaintiff Gilbert Polo has filed an Objection (Doc. 97) to the Report, and Defendants E*Trade Access, Inc. and Goodings Supermarkets, Inc. have filed Responses (Docs. 99 & 100) to that Objection. After an independent de novo review of the record in this matter, and considering the Objection and Responses that have been filed, the Court agrees with the findings and conclusions in the Report and Recommendation.

In his Objection (Doc. 97), Plaintiff argues that the Report improperly makes a determination of the merits of the case, that the Report’s conclusion on commonality is incorrect, and that even if the Court accepts the findings in the Report Plaintiff should be given leave to amend to redefine the proposed class. However, the Court rejects each of these arguments. As aptly stated in the Report:

Polo does not show that there are fact issues common to all class members. On the contrary, there seem to be hundreds of permutations of possible facts regarding the members of the putative class and the 15.000 ATMs that they used. The ATMs may be owned by E*Trade; may be owned by Gooding’s; may be owned by one of 8.000 merchants other than Gooding’s; may be in any state; may be subject to varying site location agreements that affect the parties’ rights and obligations; [402]*402may have been purchased or leased pursuant to a sales agreement or rental agreement that affects the parties’ rights and obligations; may impose varying transaction fees collected by E*Trade or by a merchant; may impose varying transaction surcharges collected by E*Trade or by a merchant; may collect no transaction fees and no transaction surcharges from some consumers under varying circumstances, such as customers of certain banks; may have “overcharged” or “undercharged” the consumer when measured against the posted fee; and my service the customers of financial institutions that do not debit consumer’s accounts for ATM fees.

(Doc. 94 at 9-10). The Court agrees with the Report’s conclusion that the commonality requirement of Rule 23(a)(2) has not been satisfied, and it is abundantly clear that common questions do not “predominate over any questions affecting only individual members” as required by Rule 23(b)(3). Moreover, the Report does not impermissibly rule on the merits of the cause of action in its consideration of the class certification issues. Finally, as to the issue of amendment, as noted in the Report “Polo has had adequate time to discover relevant facts,” and “has already abandoned one class definition[] and substituted a new one after both defendants’ briefs had been filed.” (Doc. 94 at 16). Thus, Plaintiff has had ample opportunity to submit proposed class definitions, and he may not now again amend that proposal after being permitted to do so even after extensive briefing.

Accordingly, it is ORDERED as follows:

1. The Report and Recommendation (Doe. 94, filed February 5, 2004) is ADOPTED and CONFIRMED and made a part of this Order.

2. Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification (Doc. 58) is DENIED.

Repoet And Recommendation

GLAZEBROOK, United States Magistrate Judge.

TO THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

This cause came on for hearing on January 15, 2004 on the following motion:

MOTION: PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION [Docket No. 58]

FILED: June 9, 2003

THEREON it is RECOMMENDED that the motion be DENIED.

I. THE ISSUES

Plaintiff Gilbert Polo alleges that he withdrew money from his bank account on July 5, 2002 at an automatic teller machine at the Gooding’s Supermarket in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. See Polo’s First Amended Complaint, Docket No. 4 at 3. According to Polo, the ATM screen stated that he would be charged $1.50 for the transaction, but his receipt showed that he actually was charged $2.00. Id. Polo claims that defendant Gooding’s Supermarkets, Inc. [“Gooding’s”] and defendant E*Trade Access, Inc. [“E*Trade”]1 failed to properly disclose the amount of the ATM fee in violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act [“EFTA”], 15 U.S.C. § 1693 et seq. and its implementing regulations, 12 CFR 205 et seq. [commonly referred to as “Reg. E”]. Polo seeks unspecified money damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorney’s fees from Gooding’s and E*Trade not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of at least 15,000 unknown individu[403]*403als whom Polo believes may have suffered a similar injury. Id. at 4.

On June 9, 2004, Polo moved this Court to certify a single opt-out class pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a) and (b)(3) comprising:

All consumers who were provided host transfer services by Defendants in violation of the disclosure requirements of EFTA (Title 15 U.S.C. § 1693b(d)(3)(B), and its implementing regulation, 12 CFR Part 205.16(c)) during the year preceding the filing of this action.

Docket No. 58, 59 at 4; see also 15 U.S.C. § 1693m (g) (requiring that any action under EFTA be brought within one year from the date of the occurrence of the violation). Gooding’s and E*Trade filed separate memo-rands opposing Polo’s proposed class. Docket Nos. 76, 77. In an effort to avoid defendants’ objections, Polo then substituted the following proposed definition in a reply brief:

All consumers who, within the time period beginning one year prior to the filing of this action and ending on the date of the certification of this action, were provided host transfer services from an automated teller machine operated by any Defendant, and who were charged a “transaction fee” that was different from one or more of the transaction fee notices that appeared on the outside of the machine.

Reply, Docket No. 87 at 3^1 (filed October 6, 2003). This report and recommendation considers only the revised definition.

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Bluebook (online)
232 F.R.D. 399, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28633, 2004 WL 3550737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/polo-v-goodings-supermarkets-inc-flmd-2004.