Trecker v. Manning Implement, Inc.

73 F.R.D. 554, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1142, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12745
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Iowa
DecidedOctober 15, 1976
DocketCiv. No. C74-3023
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 73 F.R.D. 554 (Trecker v. Manning Implement, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trecker v. Manning Implement, Inc., 73 F.R.D. 554, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1142, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12745 (N.D. Iowa 1976).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HANSON, Chief Judge.

This suit is a civil antitrust action based upon allegations of conspiracy and price-fixing in the sale of International Harvester Corporation (IH) farm machinery parts by franchised, independent IH dealers in Iowa. The plaintiff, Dennis Trecker, filed this action on behalf of himself and all those who purchased IH parts from certain independent dealers in Iowa between May 7, 1970 and December 31, 1971. Federal jurisdiction is based on the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., and 28 U.S.C. § 1337; a number of pendent state law claims are also asserted. Pending before the Court is plaintiff’s motion for class action certification pursuant to Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The International Harvester Corporation provides its company-owned stores with a price book containing four separate prices for each IH farm machinery part. The prices are Item (dealer’s cost); Contract (large volume sales price); C.T. (discount price); and List (retail price). These company-store price books were also made available to independent IH dealers, such as the defendants. The books contain the preface that:

Dealers or Distributors using this list are advised that the prices contained herein are not intended, nor should they be interpreted, to be determinative of the resale prices of such Dealers and Distributors.

Early in 1971 a voluntary organization of the independent dealers in Iowa was formed, entitled the International Harvester Dealers Council. Through the efforts of certain Council members, a new price book containing the same parts as the IH book and the same price classifications was printed. This new book, referred to as the “bogus price book” by the plaintiff, was made available on July 14, 1971 to the independent dealers who wished to purchase it. The prices in the book were a uniform 10% higher than those in the IH parts book.

Plaintiff’s amended complaint lists 109 defendants who are asserted to be “corporations, partnerships and proprietors engaged in the business of retail sales of International Harvester parts within the state of Iowa.” The Court’s examination of the amended complaint reveals that some 56 separate IH retail distributors are represented among the defendants. The gist of plaintiff’s case is that the 109 defendants, through a conspiracy involving the IH Dealers Council, fixed artificial prices at the 56 various dealerships operating in Iowa. This conspiracy was implemented by the use of the “bogus price book,” which was available to dealers from July 14, 1971 to August 31, 1971. During this six-week period, plaintiff purchased IH parts from one of the defendant dealerships, Manning Implement Company. By virtue of these transactions, he seeks to bring this action on behalf of all purchasers of IH parts from the various named defendants. Trecker himself has dealt only with Manning Implement Company.

II. RULE 23, FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

Rule 23 has been in its present form since 1966; it reads as follows:

[557]*557 Class Actions
(a) Prerequisites to a Class Action. One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all only if (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.
(b) Class Actions Maintainable. An action may be maintained as a class action if the prerequisites of subdivision (a) are satisfied, and in addition:
(1) the prosecution of separate actions by or against individual members of the class would create a risk of
(A) inconsistent or varying adjudications with respect to individual members of the class which would establish incompatible standards of conduct for the party opposing the class; or
(B) adjudications with respect to individual members of the class which would as a practical matter be dispositive of the interests of the other members not parties to the adjudications or substantially impair or impede their ability to protect their interests; or
(2) the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with respect to the class as a whole; or
(3) the court finds that the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy. The matters pertinent to the findings include: (A) the interest of members of the class in individually controlling the prosecution or defense of separate actions; (B) the extent and nature of any litigation concerning the controversy already commenced by or against members of the class; (C) the desirability or undesirability of concentrating the litigation of the claims in the particular forum; (D) the difficulties likely to be encountered in the management of a class action.

The plaintiff may represent the proposed class in this cause only if all four of the Rule 23(a) requirements are met, and the requisites of either Rule 23(b)(1), 23(b)(2), or 23(b)(3) are satisfied. In considering the propriety of plaintiff’s motion, the Court has studied the briefs of the respective parties, as well as the depositions and answers to interrogatories on file. To date, discovery in this case has been limited to matters pertaining to class certification. To the extent the Court relies on that discovery, and comments on the proof which will be necessary to establish any particular claims, it is only in the context of whether Rule 23 has been satisfied. The Court is fully aware that a “preliminary determination of the merits” of plaintiff’s claim is not germane to the resolution of his pending motion. See Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 177-79, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974).

A. Rule 23(a)(1) Numerosity and Rule 23(a)(2) Commonality

The numerosity requirement of Rule 23(a)(1) has clearly been established. Although the exact size of the proposed class is unascertained, plaintiff states that it will consist of more than 1,000 and less than 100,000 members. Indicative of the size of the class is the fact that one of the 56 dealers, Mr. Hendrickson, states that he had between 700 and 800 customers in 1971. Thus, it is clear that joinder of the proposed class members, the customers of the named dealers, is impractical.

Rule 23(a)(2) requires that there exist questions of law or fact common to the class.

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Bluebook (online)
73 F.R.D. 554, 22 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1142, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trecker-v-manning-implement-inc-iand-1976.