Rodriguez v. Carlson

166 F.R.D. 465, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7053, 1996 WL 224541
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedMarch 20, 1996
DocketNo. CY-95-3164-AAM
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 166 F.R.D. 465 (Rodriguez v. Carlson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez v. Carlson, 166 F.R.D. 465, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7053, 1996 WL 224541 (E.D. Wash. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

McDONALD, District Judge.

On March 11,1996, a hearing was conducted on plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification (Ct.Rec. 10). Plaintiffs were represented by Rebecca Smith of Columbia Legal [470]*470Services; Ryan Edgley of Halverson & Applegate, P.S. appeared on behalf of defendants.

The five individual plaintiffs named in the complaint allege that they are migrant agricultural workers who were employed by defendants Nolan Carlson (“Carlson”) and Cherrystone, Inc. (“Cherrystone”) during the cherry harvest of 1993 and/or 1994 in or around Wenatchee, Washington. They bring this action based on the defendants’ alleged violations of their rights under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1801 et. seq. (AWPA). Specifically, plaintiffs maintain that defendants violated AWPA by: 1) providing the plaintiffs with housing which failed to comply with applicable health and safety standards; 2) failing to post a notice of the terms and conditions of occupancy of housing facilities provided to the plaintiffs; 3) failing to obtain or post a copy of a certification of occupancy from a State or local health authority or other appropriate agency; 4) failing to disclose in writing to the plaintiffs the terms and conditions of their employment; and 5) failing to maintain in a conspicuous place a poster setting forth the rights and protections afforded to agricultural workers under the AWPA. They seek, inter alia, permanent injunctive relief and damages.

Plaintiffs filed a class action complaint, seeking to bring class claims against defendants on behalf of all farmworkers and their family members who occupied defendants’ real property during the cherry harvests of 1993 and 1994. To that end, plaintiffs have filed the current motion for certification of a class. For the reasons set forth herein, the court is granting the plaintiffs’ motion subject to certain conditions.

DISCUSSION:

The plaintiffs’ request for class certification focuses primarily on the living conditions to which they were allegedly subjected in 1993 and 1994. They seek class-wide injunctive relief preventing the defendants from exposing future occupants of defendants’ labor camp to such living conditions. They additionally seek certification of a class for the purpose of recovering damages on behalf of all occupants of the defendants’ camp during the specified time periods. They assert that class certification is appropriate under both Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2) and 23(b)(3).

Defendants oppose the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. They maintain that the plaintiffs do not satisfy all of the criteria set forth in Rule 23; therefore, certification would be inappropriate.

A. Class Certification Standard

Class actions are “ ‘an exception to the usual rule that litigation is conducted by and on behalf of the named parties only.’” General Telephone Co. of Southwest v. Falcon 457 U.S. 147, 155, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 2369, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982), quoting, Califano v. Yamasaki, 442 U.S. 682, 700-01, 99 S.Ct. 2545, 2557, 61 L.Ed.2d 176 (1979). The purpose of class actions is to conserve the resources of the courts and the parties by allowing the most economical resolution of issues potentially affecting the members of the class. Jenkins v. Raymark Indus., 782 F.2d 468, 471 (5th Cir.1986), citing, General Telephone, 457 U.S. at 155, 102 S.Ct. at 2369. A class action “may only be certified if the trial court is satisfied after a rigorous analysis that the prerequisites of Rule 23(a) have been satisfied.” General Telephone, 457 U.S. at 161, 102 S.Ct. at 2372.

Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23, the court must apply a two-part analysis to determine if certification is appropriate. First, the court must determine whether the four criteria listed in Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a) are satisfied. Second, the court must determine whether the requirements of any subsection of Rule 23(b) have been fulfilled. The court may certify a class only if both prongs of this analysis are satisfied.

B. Definition of the Class

Before applying the two-part analysis, the court must determine whether the scope of the class which plaintiffs seek to certify is appropriate. See Haywood v. Barnes, 109 F.R.D. 568, 576 (E.D.N.C.1986) (“Prior to the consideration of the criteria set forth under Rule 23(a), the court must initially find that a precisely defined class exists — ”), citing, Roman v. ESB, Inc., 550 [471]*471F.2d 1343, 1348 (4th Cir.1976). Plaintiffs’ proposed class encompasses

all migrant agricultural workers, and the families of those workers, who were recruited or employed by the defendants to harvest cherries in 1993 or 1994 and/or who were provided housing by the defendants in those years [as well as] all those who may be promised or provided housing in connection with employment in the future.

They maintain that this class satisfies the criteria established in Rule 23(a) and the requirements of both Rule 23(b)(2) and 23(b)(3).

The court finds the scope of the plaintiffs’ proposed class overbroad. During the hearing, plaintiffs’ counsel supported her position that the families of the workers should be included within the defined class by citing two cases which have found that non-working children of migrant farm workers have a private right of action under AWPA See Hernandez v. Ruiz, 812 F.Supp. 734, 736 (S.D.Tex.1993); Sanchez v. Overmyer, 891 F.Supp. 1253 (N.D.Ohio 1995). While these cases may indeed indicate that non-working family members have standing under AWPA the court finds that the inclusion of “families” within the scope of the defined class would amplify factual discrepancies between the class members, thereby precluding the necessary finding of commonality.

The appropriate putative class should be precisely defined as

All migrant agricultural workers who were recruited or employed by the defendants to harvest cherries in 1993 and/or 1994 and who were provided housing by the defendants and all those who may be promised or provided housing in connection with employment in the future.

This refinement properly narrows the parameters of the putative class and facilitates the court’s application of the Rule 23 analysis. Cf Haywood, 109 F.R.D. at 576 (“In the case at bar, plaintiffs have precisely defined the class they wish to represent as all migrant farmworkers who were used or employed by the [defendant] at a specific location, during a specific time frame, and who were injured in one of four delineated ways”); see also Roman v. Korson, 152 F.R.D.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Miller v. University of Cincinnati
241 F.R.D. 285 (S.D. Ohio, 2006)
Romero v. Producers Dairy Foods, Inc.
235 F.R.D. 474 (E.D. California, 2006)
Silva-Arriaga v. Texas Express, Inc.
222 F.R.D. 684 (M.D. Florida, 2004)
Saur v. Snappy Apple Farms, Inc.
203 F.R.D. 281 (W.D. Michigan, 2001)
In re Sumitomo Copper Litigation
194 F.R.D. 480 (S.D. New York, 2000)
Nga v. Daewoosa Samoa, Ltd.
4 Am. Samoa 3d 135 (High Court of American Samoa, 2000)
Werlinger v. Champion Healthcare Corp.
1999 ND 173 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1999)
Graber v. Logan County Water Resource Board
1999 ND 168 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 F.R.D. 465, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7053, 1996 WL 224541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-carlson-waed-1996.