Rodriguez-Feliciano v. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority

240 F.R.D. 36
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 13, 2007
DocketCivil No. 06-2202 (JP)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 240 F.R.D. 36 (Rodriguez-Feliciano v. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez-Feliciano v. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, 240 F.R.D. 36 (prd 2007).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PIERAS, Senior District Judge.

The Court has before it Plaintiffs’ Motion Requesting Certification as Class Action (No. 14). For the reasons stated herein, Plaintiffs’ Motion is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs’ allege in their Complaint that Defendant Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (“PREPA”) has been violating the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (“PURPA”) as well as the constitutional rights of its customers by establishing excessive rates for its services. Section 210 of PURPA requires state and public electric utilities to acquire purchase rates from duly qualified independent or private electric power cogenerators that are (1) just and reasonable to consumers of electricity and comply with the public interest; (2) do not discriminate against other duly qualified cogenerators of electricity; (3) do not exceed the cost that the state public utility would have produced if it had produced said energy itself. Plaintiffs allege that on October 11,1994, and again on March 10, 1995, PREPA entered into contracts with private cogenerators of electricity to purchase electric energy. Plaintiffs allege that in January 19981 ,PREPA departed from the agreed upon basic rates for energy costs, and added an “Adjustment Clause for the Purchase of Fuel” to its customers’ bills. Again in June 2000, PREPA added another such clause. Plaintiffs allege that the purpose of these clauses was to cover PREPA’s costs for the purchase of electric energy from two cogenerators so that the rates billed to customers would include the basic rate, the adjustment for the purchase of fuel, and the adjustment for the purchase of energy. Plaintiffs allege that the purchase of energy from cogenerators includes the estimated monthly cost of billing for the purchase of electric energy from the cogenerators, an eleven percent factor for the impact of taxes paid to state and municipal governments, and an amount for estimated net generation and efficiency factor known as E.I.

Plaintiffs allege that from July 1998 to December 2003, Defendant PREPA sold electric power to its customers in an amount of $11,849,497,695. Of those sales, $1,527,945,086 corresponded to electric energy purchase by PREPA from the eogenerators. Plaintiffs allege that notwithstanding this fact, PREPA applied the variable costs of power generation to the total sales to consumers, even though PREPA does not incur costs of generation over the acquired electric energy sold to customers. The amount was included as part of the basic rates, without informing customers. Plaintiffs allege that none of the fuel and power components of the rates and the standards [38]*38were accessible by customers, and that PREPA did not hold a hearing as required by PURPA. Plaintiffs estimate that PREPA has illegally overcharged its customers in excess of $49.8 million.

Plaintiffs request from this Court several preliminary injunctions, including an order enjoining PREPA from illegally charging its customers for the electric service it purchases from cogeneration facilities in violation of PURPA, an order enjoining PREPA from depriving its customers of electricity if they do not pay the “illegal” rates, an order for PREPA to comply with various provisions of PURPA, an order for PREPA to stop charging customers for the energy taken from outside producers, and an order for PREPA to refund overcharges. Plaintiffs also request an evidentiary hearing, but ask that the injunctions be entered prior to the holding of a hearing to protect their interests. Finally, Plaintiffs argue that 16 U.S.C. Section 2633, which states that federal courts do not have jurisdiction to hear cases arising under PURPA, should be voided as unconstitutional under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives the judiciary jurisdiction to hear cases arising under the Constitution, treaties and laws of the U.S.

II. STANDARD FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

Plaintiffs allege that PREPA’s illegal overcharges have affected in excess of one million people. Accordingly, Plaintiffs filed this Motion early in the case for certification of a class. Plaintiffs argue that they meet the prerequisites for certification of a class action. Rule 23(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states that one or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all class members only if the following prerequisites are met:

(1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a). The plaintiffs bear the burden of establishing the necessary Rule 23 requirements. See Smilow v. Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, Inc., 323 F.3d 32, 38 (1st Cir.2003) (“to obtain class certification, the plaintiff must establish the four elements of Rule 23(a) and one of several elements of Rule 23(b)”). When evaluating whether class certification is appropriate, courts must engage in a “rigorous analysis of the prerequisites established by Rule 23,” Smilow, 323 F.3d at 38; and exercise their “power to test disputed premises early on if and when the class action would be proper on one premise but not another.” Tardiff v. Knox County, 365 F.3d 1, 4-5 (1st Cir.2004). In so doing, “sometimes it may be necessary for the court to probe behind the pleadings before coming to rest on the certification question.” Gen. Telephone Co. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 160, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982). The Court is under an independent obligation to test for “actual, not presumed, conformance with Rule 23(a).” General Telephone Co., 457 U.S. at 160, 102 S.Ct. 2364. If all of the 26(a) requirements are met, the plaintiff must establish that the action is maintainable under one of the three subsections of Rule 23(b).

III. PLAINTIFFS’ FAIL TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION

The Court must deny Plaintiffs’ Motion Requesting Certification as Class Action because Plaintiffs simply have not provided the Court with adequate information to engage in the required rigorous analysis necessary to certify a class. .The Court will examine Rule 23(a)’s four requirements in turn.

The numerosity requirement is satisfied when the class is “so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(1). The party instituting the action need not show the exact number of potential members in order to satisfy the numerosity prerequisite, but “mere speculation as to the number of parties involved is not sufficient to satisfy Rule 23(a)(1).” 7A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R.

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Bluebook (online)
240 F.R.D. 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-feliciano-v-puerto-rico-electric-power-authority-prd-2007.