Wilkins v. Just Energy Group, Inc.

171 F. Supp. 3d 798, 2016 WL 1106855, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36711
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 22, 2016
DocketCase No. 13 C 5806
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 171 F. Supp. 3d 798 (Wilkins v. Just Energy Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilkins v. Just Energy Group, Inc., 171 F. Supp. 3d 798, 2016 WL 1106855, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36711 (N.D. Ill. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Joan B. Gottsehall, United States District Judge

Defendants Just Energy Group, Inc., Just Energy Illinois Corp., and Commerce [801]*801Energy, Inc., seek reconsideration of the court’s class certification order, arguing that plaintiff Levonna Wilkins did not satisfy the predominance element of class certification and that the class definition is overly broad because it includes all of the Just Energy defendants. Wilkins opposes the motion and, alternatively, seeks leave to file a third amended complaint to add an additional plaintiff (Robin Lewis) who worked for Commerce Energy. The defendants’ motion to reconsider is granted to the extent that Wilkins can proceed as a named plaintiff for a class of Just Energy Illinois door-to-door workers during the class period, and is otherwise denied. Wilkins’ motion for leave to file a third amended complaint to add Lewis as an additional plaintiff is held in abeyance pending submission of evidence regarding when Lewis stopped working for Commerce Energy.

I. Legal Standard

The court has the inherent authority to reconsider its interlocutory orders because such orders “may be revised at any time before the entry of judgment adjudicating all the claims.” See Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b); see also Galvan v. Norberg, 678 F.3d 581, 587 (7th Cir.2012) (“Rule 54(b) provides that non-final orders may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties’ rights and liabilities”). A motion to reconsider an interlocutory order serves a limited purpose in federal litigation; it is not a vehicle to rehash an argument the court has already rejected or to present legal arguments that were not presented earlier. Schilke v. Wachovia Mortg., FSB, 758 F.Supp.2d 549, 554 (N.D.Ill.2010). Rather, a motion to reconsider allows a party to direct the court’s attention to manifest errors of fact or law, a significant change in the law or facts, the court’s misunderstanding of a party’s argument, or party’s contention that the court ruled on an issue that was not properly before it. See United States v. Ligas, 549 F.3d 497, 501 (7th Cir.2008).

With respect to the scope of the class definition, the summary judgment record appeared to indicate that defendant Just Energy Group hires individuals to go door-to-door on behalf of affiliated entities in Illinois, including Just Energy Illinois and Commerce Energy, and that the Just Energy entities generally followed the same policies and practices.2 The court treated the Just Energy entities as a group based on this assertion as the parties’ briefs did not sufficiently delineate the different Just Energy entities. In the motion to reconsider, however, the defendants assert that Wilkins was exclusively associated with Just Energy Illinois and that the class should include only Just Energy Illinois door-to-door workers.

“Reconsideration is not appropriate where a party seeks to raise arguments that could have been raised in the original briefing.” Wiegel v. Stork Craft Mfg., Inc., 891 F.Supp.2d 941, 943-44 (N.D.Ill.2012). Nevertheless, the court recognizes that the original set of motions (intertwined motions for summary judgment and class certification) presented numerous complex issues and the precise nature of the relationship between the Just Energy defendants was unclear. While the court understood the breath of the class definition, it [802]*802decided, based on the materials before it at that time, that it had no principled option other than to treat the Just Energy defendants as a group and await developments. It would have been more efficient to address the scope of the class in the original class certification order. Regardless, in an exercise of its discretion and to further the substantial interest of ensuring that the class definition is accurate and appropriate, the court will now consider which Just Energy defendants should be included in the class definition.

With this ruling in mind, the court turns to the motion to reconsider, which asks the court to revisit the class definition and its decision regarding predominance, and Wil-kin’s motion to amend her complaint to add a new plaintiff who worked for Commerce Energy. The court begins with predominance, as if the court agrees with the defendants, the class would be decertified, rendering any disagreements about the class definition moot.

II. Discussion

A. Predominance — Calculation of Individual Damages

The defendants’ prior opposition to class certification extensively discussed their concerns about the calculation of damages. The defendants currently seek reconsideration of the court’s finding that Wilkins satisfied the predominance element of class certification, arguing that predominance does not exist due to individual questions about damages and the lack of a viable way to compute damages on a class-wide basis.

The court begins by recapping its prior overview of the predominance requirement. The Seventh Circuit has held that:

Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement is satisfied when common questions represent a significant aspect of a case and can be resolved for all members of a class in a single adjudication. Or, to put it another way, common questions can predominate if a common nucleus of operative facts and issues underlies the claims brought by the proposed class. If, to make a prima facie showing on a given question, the members of a proposed class will need to present evidence that varies from member to member, then it is an individual question. If the same evidence will suffice for each member to make a prima facie showing, then it becomes a common question. Individual questions need not be absent. The text of Rule 23(b) (3) itself contemplates that such individual questions will be present. The rule requires only that those questions not predominate over the common questions affecting the class as a whole.

Messner v. Northshore Univ. HealthSystem, 669 F.3d 802, 815 (7th Cir.2012) (internal citations, alterations, and quotation marks omitted).

With respect to damages, the -fact that potential damages for individual class members vary is not fatal to a motion for class certification if substantial common issues outweigh individual issues regarding damages. Id. at 819 (“common proof of damages for class members ... is not required”); Butler v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 727 F.3d 796, 801 (7th Cir.2013) (“[i]f the issues of liability are genuinely common issues, and the damages of individual class members can be readily determined in individual hearings, in settlement negotiations, or by creation of subclasses, the fact that damages are not identical across all class members should not preclude class certification”); see also William B. Rubenstein, et al., Newberg on Class Actions, vol. 2, § 4:54 (5th ed. 2012) (ordinarily, “individual damage[s] calculations should not scuttle class certification under Rule 23(b)(3)”).

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171 F. Supp. 3d 798, 2016 WL 1106855, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36711, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkins-v-just-energy-group-inc-ilnd-2016.