Discrete, separately represented subclasses may be used to ensure that varying groups receive the same level of adequate representation. For example, in Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997), more than half of the proposed class representatives that were included alleged they or their family members had already suffered injuries as a result of exposure to asbestos, while the remaining proposed class representatives alleged they or their family members had merely been exposed to asbestos, but had not yet suffered any asbestos-related injury.” [17] The parties, with diverse or nonexistent medical conditions, attempted to represent the interests of a single, massive class, leaving a disparity of interest between class members who were currently injured and those whose injuries had not yet manifested.
In re Hyundai and Kia Fuel Economy Litig., No. 15-56014, 2018 WL 505343 (9th Cir. Jan. 23, 2018). The Ninth Circuit reaffirmed that the burden of proving common legal questions predominate is, like all of the Rule 23(b)(3) requirements, on the plaintiff, and the relaxation of Rule 23(b)(3) for settlements that the Supreme Court recognized in Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997), extends only to those questions of trial manageability that will not arise once a case settles. The court ruled that state-law variation is not merely a question of manageability, but also implicates the substantive rights of class members.
Supreme Court precedent also counsels in favor of hewing closely to the text of Rule 23. In Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997), the Court considered whether a settlement-only class could be certified without satisfying the requirements of Rule 23. In holding that it could not,5 the Court underscored that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure result from “an extensive deliberative process involving . . . a Rules Advisory Committee, public commenters, the Judicial Conference, [the Supreme] Court, [and] Congress.”
[6] Id.[7] Amchem Prod., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 618 (1997).[8] 332 F.R.D. at 537.
Comcast Corp. v. Behrandand the Supreme Court’s specific admonitions about the application of Rule 23’s criteria to a class settlement agreed that: To be sure, when “[c]onfronted with a request for settlement-only class certification, a district court need not inquire whether the case, if tried, would present intractable management problems, for the proposal is that there be no trial.” Amchem[Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 620 (1997)]. But “other specifications of the Rule—those designed to protect absentees by blocking unwarranted or overbroad class definitions—demand undiluted, even heightened, attention in the settlement context.”
Hydrogen Peroxide, 552 F.3d at 312 (internal quotation marks omitted). Although Defendants raise the issue of predominance first, the requirements of Rule 23(a) are “threshold requirements,” Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 613 (1997), and we therefore address them first.A. NumerosityRule 23(a)(1) sets forth what is commonly known as the numerosity requirement. The text is, however, conspicuously devoid of any numerical minimum required for class certification.
“The adequacy inquiry under Rule 23(a)(4) serves to uncover conflicts of interest between named parties and the class they seek to represent.” Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 625 (1997). Notwithstanding the concerns expressed below, the Court finds that Plaintiffs satisfy both requirements.1.
“The Rule 23(b)(3) predominance inquiry tests whether proposed classes are sufficiently cohesive to warrant adjudication by representation.” Amchem Prods. v. Windsor, 521 US. 591, 623 (1997). The predominance requirement is “far more stringent than the commonality requirement of Rule 23(a).”
“The Rule 23(b)(3) predominance inquiry tests whether proposed classes are sufficiently cohesive to warrant adjudication by representation.” Amchem Prods. v. Windsor, 521 US. 591, 623 (1997). The predominance requirement is “far more stringent than the commonality requirement of Rule 23(a).”
O’Malley, Commercial Property Insurance Coverage and Coronavirus, at 2-3.Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 625 (1997).Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 623 (1997).