Welch v. Board of Directors

146 F.R.D. 131, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1097, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2223, 1993 WL 40497
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 17, 1993
DocketCiv. A. No. 90-1154
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 146 F.R.D. 131 (Welch v. Board of Directors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welch v. Board of Directors, 146 F.R.D. 131, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1097, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2223, 1993 WL 40497 (W.D. Pa. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

COHILL, District Judge.

Presently before the court are: (1) Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification, (2) Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike Dehors the Record Material in Defendants’ Appendix to Defendants’ Brief Opposing Class Certification, (3) Plaintiffs’ Second and Third Motions to Compel, and (4) Defendants Motion for Protective Order. For the reasons stated herein, we will grant Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification in part and deny it in part, deny Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike, deny Plaintiffs’ Motions to Compel, and grant in part and deny in part Defendants’ Motion for a Protective Order.

BACKGROUND

This is an action for declaratory and injunctive relief and damages, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985(3) and 1983, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343(a)(1) and (a)(3).

Nominal plaintiff Marcia Welch is a former member of the Wildwood Golf Club in Allison Park, Pennsylvania, who sought to have her husband’s membership transferred to her after their divorce. The defendants include the Board of Directors of the Wildwood Golf Club, a Pennsylvania corporation, and the Board of Directors of Stone Lodge, Inc., also a Pennsylvania corporation, which owns the Club real estate. Club memberships at Wildwood Golf Club (“Wildwood” or the “Club”) are apparently broken down into the following classes: Class A, Class 2-A, Class B, Senior, Intermediate B, Intermediate A, Class C and Class D.

[134]*134Marcia Welch and her ex-husband Thomas C. Welch both held a Class A membership. Plaintiffs allege that under the Club’s by-laws, either gender may be Class 2-A members, and are therefore eligible to become a Class A member, however when a married couple applies for membership, the application and the membership is in the husband’s name. Plaintiffs also allege that under the Club rules, only males can continue to be Class A members upon the death or divorce of the other spouse. Upon the nominal plaintiff’s divorce, Wildwood refused to grant the transfer of membership and stock certificates from Mr. Welch to Ms. Welch, which both ex-spouses desired. Apparently the Family Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County ordered Wildwood to transfer the membership from Thomas Welch to plaintiff Welch’s name. The Board of Directors refused to do so and told Ms. Welch that effective March 31, 1990 she was no longer a member of Wildwood.

It is further alleged that the 345 female spousal Class A members cannot golf on the weekends prior to 2:00 p.m., as is true of children golfers, unless accompanied by a male. Ms. Welch, a sales manager for a multi-national corporation, claims that her business relationships with clients have been harmed by the Club’s policy of limiting women’s tee off times and because she cannot conduct business in the “all male” 19th Hole bar and grill at Wildwood.

The nominal plaintiff has characterized the proposed class in a number of ways. Her Motion for Class Certification states very broadly that the class consists of “all past, present and future female members of all classes of Wildwood Golf Club.” Motion for Class Certification ¶ 1. On the other hand, nominal plaintiff alleges that this action is brought on behalf of “all past and present female Class A members of Wildwood Golf Club, all future members, all Class 2-A members, Class B members, Senior members, Intermediate Class members, Class C members and Class D members.” Amended Complaint ¶ 11. Plaintiffs’ Amended complaint defines the class as “all female Class A members as well as other classes of female members who have been discriminated against on the basis of sex in the operation of the transfer of Class A memberships by reason of death or divorce from the other spousal Class A member, and who have been discriminated against on the basis of sex in the overall operation of the Club.” Amended Complaint ¶ 1.

For the purposes of this motion we will assume that the proposed class is as defined in the motion for class certification, “all past, present and future female members of all classes of Wildwood Golf Club.”

CLASS CERTIFICATION

Plaintiffs move for class certification under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3), and define the class as “all past, present and future female members of all classes of Wildwood Golf Club.”

To be certified as a class action under Rule 23(b)(3), plaintiffs must satisfy each of the requirements of Rule 23(a) and the requirements of Rule 23(b)(3). Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 163, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 2146, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974). The party seeking to certify the class action has the burden of proving that the requirements of Rule 23(b)(3) have been met. Davis v. Romney, 490 F.2d 1360, 1366 (3d Cir.1974). Furthermore, the interests of justice require that in a doubtful case, courts should err in favor of allowing the class certification. Eisenberg v. Gagnon, 766 F.2d 770, 785 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 946, 106 S.Ct. 342, 88 L.Ed.2d 290 (1985).

A. Rule 23(a)

Rule 23(a) provides:
[o]ne 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.

[135]*1351. Numerosity

To satisfy numerosity, the class must be so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable. Weiss v. York Hosp., 745 F.2d 786, 807-808 (3d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1060, 105 S.Ct. 1777, 84 L.Ed.2d 836 (1985). “Impractical,” however, does not mean impossible. 7A Charles A. Wright and Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1762 (2d ed. 1986). The Third Circuit has generally held that the numerosity requirement is met if the proposed class exceeds 100 members. Safran v. United Steelworkers of America, 132 F.R.D. 397 (W.D.Pa.1989).

Plaintiffs assert that the proposed class consists of over 250 female Class A Family Members of the Club, an undetermined number of past members who were spouses of male Class A members, all future female spouses of male Class A members, and females who currently hold Class A memberships. Defendant objects to this characterization of the class because the plaintiffs’ class action allegations fail to explicitly mention the inclusion of female spouses of members in the class.

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Bluebook (online)
146 F.R.D. 131, 25 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1097, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2223, 1993 WL 40497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welch-v-board-of-directors-pawd-1993.