Winkler v. DTE, Inc.

205 F.R.D. 235, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22258, 2001 WL 1735241
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedDecember 6, 2001
DocketNo. 00CV276-PHX-SRB
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 205 F.R.D. 235 (Winkler v. DTE, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Winkler v. DTE, Inc., 205 F.R.D. 235, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22258, 2001 WL 1735241 (D. Ariz. 2001).

Opinion

ORDER

BOLTON, District Judge.

This matter comes before the court on the Plaintiffs’ Motion to Certify two main classes, each with one subclass, to be represented by the four individual Plaintiffs named above. (Doc. 82). The Plaintiffs assert that the proposed classes and subclasses meet all the requirements for class certification pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In connection with the exhibits provided by the Plaintiffs to support their Motion to Certify and in response to objections raised by Defendant WFS, the Plaintiffs also request an evidentiary hearing to lay the foundation for the exhibits provided to the court. (Doc. 103-1).

[238]*238I. BACKGROUND

Defendant DTE, Inc., d/b/a Neon Motors (Neon Motors), is a used car dealership located in Scottsdale, Arizona and owned by Defendants Donn and Tricia Mueller. From 1994 until 1999, Neon Motors sold used suburbans and pickup tracks to each member of the proposed class. Upon purchase of a vehicle from Neon Motors, each named Plaintiff and each member of the proposed class signed a standard form known as the secure odometer disclosure form which indicated the mileage reading on the odometer of the purchased car. On the secure odometer disclosure form, Neon Motors routinely marked the box next to the statement: “NOT Actual Mileage, WARNING-ODOMETER DISCREPANCY.” Each Plaintiff also signed purchase contracts which included terms regarding financing for the vehicles and a section entitled “Amounts Paid to Others on Your Behalf Includes: a. Payments to Public Officials for Official Fees.”

The Plaintiffs assert that Neon Motors purchased used vehicles, tampered with the odometers to roll back the mileage on these vehicles after acquisition and prior to re-sale, and then sold these vehicles to Plaintiffs and to members of the proposed class with false odometer disclosure statements. In addition, the Plaintiffs contend that Neon Motors routinely overcharged, but failed to refund, its customers for amounts charged as “Payments to Public Officials for Official Fees.” Neon Motors allegedly incorporated the amount overcharged for official fees into the cash sale price of the vehicles it sold and then financed these overcharges. The Plaintiffs allege that a major lender that provided financing for many of the vehicles sold by Neon Motors was Defendant WFS Financial (WFS).

The Plaintiffs argue that WFS is also liable for claims against Neon Motors pursuant to the following clause of the financing agreement: “Any holder of this consumer credit contract is subject to all claims and defenses which the debtor could assert against the seller of goods or services obtained pursuant hereto or with the proceeds hereof. Recovery hereunder by the debtor shall not exceed amounts paid by the debtor hereunder.” The Plaintiffs seek actual and statutory damages, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, against the Defendants under the following theories: 1) violation of the Federal Motor Vehicle Information and Costs Savings Act, 49 U.S.C. § 32701 et seq. (1994) (Odometer Act); 2) state law breach of contract; and 3) state law conversion. The named Plaintiffs also seek damages on an individual basis under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, A.R.S. §§ 44-1521 et seq. (West 1995), and represent that they will not pursue this fourth theory on behalf of the class in light of “the difficulty of certifying a class claim containing a reliance element, and the adequacy of remedies set forth in the Federal Odometer Act.”

The Plaintiffs defined two classes and two subclasses in its Motion to Certify Class, but in response to concerns raised in the Defendants’ Response, the Plaintiffs revised their proposals and presented the following classes and subclasses:

Class A: All persons who purchased a used vehicle from Neon Motors with a certificate of title which disclosed odometer mileage that was lower than the odometer mileage on that vehicle’s certificate of title when Neon Motors acquired it.

Subclass A: All persons who purchased a used vehicle from Neon Motors which was financed by WFS Financial, with a certificate of title which disclosed odometer mileage that was lower than the odometer mileage on that vehicle’s certificate of title when Neon Motors acquired it.

Class B: All persons who purchased a vehicle from Neon Motors, who were overcharged by Neon Motors for “Payment to Public Officials for Official Fees” and who did not receive a refund for the overpayment from Neon Motors.

Subclass B: All persons who purchased a vehicle from Neon Motors which was financed by WFS Financial, [who] were overcharged by Neon Motors for “Payment to Public Officials for Official Fees” and who did not receive a refund for the overpayment from Neon Motors.

Regarding Class B and Subclass B, the Plaintiffs define an “overcharge” as a charge [239]*239which occurs when an “official fee” amount stated in the vehicle’s purchase documents is greater than the “official fee” amount which that vehicle’s transaction documents indicate Neon Motors actually paid as an official fee to a public official.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS AND ANALYSIS

The requirements for class certification are set forth in Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 23(a) establishes the threshold requirements for proper certification of a class action: (1) numerosity, (2) commonality, (3) typicality, and (4) adequacy of representation. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a). In addition to the four threshold requirements, a proposed class must qualify under one of the three categories listed in section (b) of Rule 23. The Plaintiffs contend that the proposed class satisfies the conditions of Rule 23(b)(3), which contains two additional elements: (1) predominance of common issues and (2) superiority of the class action device. See Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 23(b)(3). Rule 23(b)(3) also provides a list of factors to consider in the determination of whether the proposed class can be maintained as a(b)(3) class. These factors 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 the class action.

Id. The party seeking class certification bears the burden of demonstrating that she has met the requirements of Rule 23. Zin-ser v. Accufix Research Institute, Inc., 253 F.3d 1180, 1186 (9th Cir.2001) (citing Hanon v. Dataproducts Corp.,

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Bluebook (online)
205 F.R.D. 235, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22258, 2001 WL 1735241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winkler-v-dte-inc-azd-2001.