Putnam v. Davies

169 F.R.D. 89, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16219, 1996 WL 585941
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 26, 1996
DocketNo. C2-95-631
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 169 F.R.D. 89 (Putnam v. Davies) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Putnam v. Davies, 169 F.R.D. 89, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16219, 1996 WL 585941 (S.D. Ohio 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

DLOTT, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment (Doc. Nos. 10 and 14) and on Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification (Doc. No. 4).

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, on behalf of herself and a class of others similarly situated, to challenge the constitutionality of the “innocent owner” provisions of Ohio R.C. § 4511.195. Section 4511.195 requires law enforcement officers to seize and immobilize the vehicles of persons who have been arrested for a second offense of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol (“OMVI”). Defendants are Colonel Warren Davies,1 head of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, in his official capacity, and Sergeant Brady Turner, both individually and in his official capacity.

The facts in this case are simple and undisputed.2 On June 17, 1995, Plaintiff lent her truck to her 21 year-old son, who drove the truck to Lancaster, Ohio with his friend Scott Ritchie. Because Plaintiffs son was intoxicated, he let Mr. Ritchie drive the truck home later that night. It is undisputed that Ms. Putnam did not give Mr. Ritchie permission to drive the truck. While driving the truck, Mr. Ritchie was stopped and subsequently was arrested by Defendant Turner for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Following Mr. Ritchie’s arrest, Sgt. Turner determined that Mr. Ritchie had a previous OMVI conviction. Accordingly, [92]*92pursuant to Ohio R.C. § 4511.195, on June 18,1995, Sgt. Turner seized the license plates and immobilized the vehicle that Mr. Ritchie was driving at the time of his arrest — Plaintiff Teresa Putnam’s truck.

On June 22,1995, Plaintiff filed a motion in the Chillicothe Municipal Court for the temporary release of her truck. Her motion was granted on June 23 and her license plates were returned to her temporarily. On August 17, 1995, the Court found Plaintiff to be an innocent owner under the statute and permanently returned her license plates.

On June 22,1995, Plaintiff also commenced this class action litigation. In her complaint, Plaintiff challenges the constitutionality of the Ohio statute as it applies to non-driver owners who (even temporarily) lose the use and possession of their vehicles after a third-party driver has been arrested for drunk driving. Plaintiff alleges that the statute denies non-driver owners due process and violates the fourth amendment by permitting warrantless seizures of property. Plaintiff prays for damages and injunctive relief.

The parties have cross motions for summary judgment. The parties appeared for oral argument on these motions on June 20, 1996. After oral argument, but before this Court had rendered its opinion, the Ohio Supreme Court rendered an opinion in State v. Hochhausler, 76 Ohio St.3d 455, 668 N.E.2d 457 (1996), in which the Court held that Ohio R.C. § 4511.195 is unconstitutional because it denies non-driver owners procedural due process.

ANALYSIS

I. CLASS CERTIFICATION

Plaintiff brings this action on behalf of herself and a class of “all persons who own or will own a motor vehicle and/or license plates which have been or will be seized by the Ohio State Highway Patrol pursuant to O.R.C. 4511.195 while being driven by a third party, or retained after such a seizure.” Amended Compl. ¶ 5.

Plaintiff filed a motion for class certification when she filed her complaint. Although Defendants did not file a formal opposition to this motion, they addressed the suitability of proceeding as a class action in their motion for summary judgment. At oral argument, there was some dispute between the parties as to whether the question of class certification was suitably before the Court. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c), however, requires this Court to address the question of class certification promptly, “whether requested to do so or not.” Senter v. General Motors Corp., 532 F.2d 511, 520 (6th Cir. 1976) (citing Garrett v. City of Hamtramck, 503 F.2d 1236, 1243 (6th Cir.1974)). Thus, the Court finds that the issue of class certification is properly before it and ripe for decision.

A. RULE 23(a).

In order to proceed as a class action under Rule 23, the proposed class representative first must demonstrate that:

1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable (the “numerosity requirement”);
2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class (the “commonality requirement”);
3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class (the “typicality requirement”); and
4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class (the “adequacy of representation requirement”).

Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a).

1. Numerosity

Under Rule 23(a)(1), Plaintiff must establish that the “class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(1). Plaintiff need not demonstrate that it would be impossible to join all of the putative class members, but simply that joinder in this case would be impracticable. Day v. NLO, 144 F.R.D. 330, 333 (S.D.Ohio 1991). Likewise, there is no minimum number of class members required in order to permit litigation to proceed as a class action. Senter, 532 F.2d at 523. Instead, the Court must examine the facts alleged in the complaint and make a [93]*93determination as to whether these facts justify proceeding as a class action. Id.; see also Boggs v. Divested Atomic Corp., 141 F.R.D. 58, 63 (S.D.Ohio 1991) (numerosity requirement “does not require that joinder is impossible, but only that plaintiff will suffer a strong litigational hardship or inconvenience if joinder is required”).

The Court agrees with Plaintiff that the proposed class meets the numerosity requirement. Although Plaintiff has not offered evidence with respect to the number of potential class members, Plaintiff asserts that Ohio law enforcement officials seize the vehicles of non-driver owners daily. Defendants do not dispute this assertion.3 It is reasonable to infer from the facts in this ease that the size of the potential class will number in the thousands and will be ever changing.4 See Senter,

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Bluebook (online)
169 F.R.D. 89, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16219, 1996 WL 585941, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/putnam-v-davies-ohsd-1996.