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otice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the Atlantic and Maryland Reporters. Users are requested to notify the Cler k of the Court of any formal errors so that corrections may be made before the bound volumes go to press.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS

No. 14

- CV

- 618
D ONALD R OTUNDA , A PPELLANT ,

v. M ARRIOTT I NTERNATIONAL , I NC
. , A PPELLEE
. Appeal from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia ( CAB

- 6829

- 11 ) (Hon. Frederic k H. Weisberg, Trial Judge) (Argued June 24, 2015 Decided September 3, 2015) Paul D. Cullen , Sr. , an d Jo yce E. Mayers , with whom Toni J. Ellington w as on the supplement al brief, for appellant. Holly Drumheller Butle r and B ruce V. Spiva , with whom R h e tt P. Martin and Charles P. Scheeler were on the brief , for appellee. Karl A. Racine , Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Todd S. Kim , Solicitor General, Loren L. Ali K h a n , Deputy Solicitor General, B ennett Rushkoff , Chief, Public Advocacy Section, and Nicholas Bush , Assistant Attorney General, filed a brief amicus curiae on behalf of the District of Columbia. Before T HOMPSON and B ECKWITH , Associates Judges , and F ARRELL , Senior Judge

. F ARRELL , Senior Judge : Appellant Donald Rotunda brought this suit for damages under D.C. Code § 28

- 3905 (k) (1) ( 20 12 Repl.) part of the District of2

Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA), on behalf of himself and the “general public

. ” In t he complaint Rotund a expressly disclaime d a ny intent ion
to see k class certification under Superior Court Rule of Civil Procedure 23. The trial court dismissed the representative portion of the suit for that reason. 1 We affirm , because we find no explicit statement of an in tention by the Council of the District of Columbia t o supplant with ad hoc procedures the framework long established by Rule 23 to govern representative suits in the Superior Court

.

I. B ackground

Rotunda sued appellee Marriott International, Inc. under the CPPA for alleged deception in quoting prices for rooms at i t s Russian hotels in U.S. dollars, when payment at checkout was required to be in Russian rubles at an internal exchange rate invariably more favorable to the hotel than that day’s Central Bank exchange rate. The suit was brought on behalf of Rotunda personally and all those members of “the general public,” D.C. Code § 28

- 3905 (k) (1), who had allegedly been victimized by this practice. It sought statutory or actual damages.

1 As will be apparent, final judgment was then entered after Rotunda and appellee reached a settlement on Rotunda’s individual claim for damages.3

The case came be fore Judge Weisberg on Marriott’s motion to dismiss the representative action because Rotunda had expressly declined to seek class certification and compliance with the procedures of Rules 23 and 23

- I. The judge recognized that the same i s s ue had been dec ided by Judge Bartnoff in an earlier unrelated case, Margolis v . U

- Haul Int ’l , Inc. , 2007 CA 5245, 2009 D.C. Super.
LEXIS 8 ( D.C. Super. Ct. Dec. 17, 2009), and he dismissed largely on the strength of Judge Bartnoff’s reasoning and dismissal there . Sp ecifically, he agreed with her “that a CPPA claim for money damages brought by an individual on behalf of
himself and other similarly situated members of the general public is in essence a class action, whether pled as such or not, and must satisfy the req uirements of Rule 23” (e mphasis by Judge Weisberg )

. The fact that the D.C. Counci l, in year 2000 amendments t o the CPPA, “intended to permit representative claims for money damages” did not, in Judge Weisberg’s view,

a nswer the question of whether the Council intended to exempt such claims from the requirements of Rule 23. The legislative history is silent on the point, but the Council is presumed to legislate with knowledge of the applicable Civil Rules, and there is no reason to assume the Council di d not expect and intend the Rule 23 procedural requirements to apply to a CPPA claim for money damages brought by an individual on his own behalf and on behalf of similarly situated members of the general public, particularly where those requirements are4

r ooted in due process considerations.

Rotunda now challenges the dismissal, which presents an issue of law that we decide de novo

. 2

II. J urisdiction

We consider first whether Rotunda has standing to bring this appeal, an issue that arises because , after Judge Weisberg dismissed his representative claim , Rotunda settled his individual claim with Marriott. T he settlement, approved by the trial court in a Consent Order and Final Judgment, was expressly conditioned on Rotunda’s ability to appeal the d ismissal of the representative claim, but at oral argument this court posed the question

— not raised by Marriott

— of whether , by settling , Rotunda had forfeited the standing required by our decisions

. S ee Grayson v. AT&T Corp. , 15 A.3d 219 (D.C. 2011) ( en banc) . Specifically , we asked whether Rotunda was like the plaintiff/appellant Breakman in Grayson , who “rest [ed] his claim entirely ‘on the legal rights or interests of third parties,’” and so

2 The trial judge decided additional issues of statutory interpretation under the CPPA that we have no occasi on to consider here.5

c ould not “ demonstrate the requisite [personal] injury

- in

- fact for standing in our courts.” Id. at 246

- 47 (citation omitted). We directed supplemental briefing on the issue.

The parties agree that the question here i s not strictly one of standing but of
mootness, 3 since, unlike Breakman, Rotunda concededly alleged concrete injury to himself in the complaint and up to the dismissal and settlement. See , by contrast, Grayson , 15 A.3d at 247 (“Because [Breakman] failed to allege the requisite injury

- in

- fact, . . . the trial court properly dismissed [his] claim for want of subject matter jurisdiction .”).

Standing and mootness are, of course, related concepts. See U nited S tates Parole Comm’n v. Geraghty , 445 U.S. 388, 397 (1980) (citation omitted) ( “[ M ]ootness [is] th e doctrine of standing set in a time frame: The requisite

3 See Supplemental Brief for Rotunda at 7 (“the issue is whether the [settlement order] relating to Rotunda’s individual claim mooted his representative claim”); Supplemental Brief for Marriott at 9 (Rotunda’s “settlement of his indi vidual claim . . . deprives him of standing . . . by mooting the necessary condition upon which his representative claim depends. . . . ‘[A] case becomes moot when the issues presented are no longer ‘live’ or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome’” (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)).6

personal interest that must exist at the commencement of the litigation (standing) must continue throughout its existence (mootness) .” ). T his court nevertheless, though in general adhering closely to Article III’s c onstitutional requirement of standing, see discussion at pages [16

- 17] , infra , has “not followed strictly federal justiciability requirements” in regard to “the doctrine of mootness.” Grayson , 15 A.3d at 235 n. 3 8. See Atchison v. Distr ict of Columbia , 585 A.2d 150, 153 (D.C. 1991) (“this court . . . enjoys flexibility in regard to mootness not possessed by the federal courts”). Illustrating that flexibility, in Atchison the emergency legislation under review had since expired, yet the court chose to entertain the appeal because the significance of the issue presented “‘extends well beyond the rights of the specific parties.’” Id. at 154 (quoting Pendleton v. District of Columbia Bd. of Elections & Ethics , 449 A.2d 301, 303 n.1 (D.C. 1982) ) ; s ee also Hessey v. Borden , 615 A.2d 562, 572 n.17 (D.C. 1992) (exercising similar “discretion” not to dismiss because of the reach of the issue beyond the parties). E ven construing Article III constitutional law, we have observed that, while “[l]a ck of standing always deprives a court of the power to adjudicate a claim, . . . the doctrine of mootness is subject to recognized exceptions that allow a court to proceed to judgment.” Mallof v. District of Columbia Bd. of Elections & Ethics , 1 A.3d 383, 395 n.54 (D.C. 2010).7

We choose likewise to reach the merits of this appeal despite Rotunda’s settlement of his individual claim. The question of whether the D.C. Council in the 2000 amendments meant to abrogate the procedures of Rule 23 as applied to CPPA representative claims clearly extends in significance beyond the rights and obligations of the instant parties, including th e sub

- set of the general public that Rotunda purports to represent. And, despite the settlement of his own claim, the case exh ibits “sharply presented issues in a concrete factual setting and self

interested parties [who have] vigorously advocate[ed] opposing positions , ” thus satisfying the “imperatives of a dispute capable of judicial resolution.” Geraghty , 445 U.S. at 403 ; see also Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Env t l. Servs. (TOC),
Inc. , 528 U.S. 167, 191

- 92 (2000) (“[B]y the time mootness is an issue, the case has been brought and litigated, often . . . for years. To abandon the case at an advanced stage may prove more wasteful than frugal.”)

. F inally , it is not even certain that dismissal of the appeal would end th e dispute in this case. Rotunda makes a serious argument that if the settlement mooted the necessary basis for his representative claim, then the trial court order embodying the settlement rested on a mutual mistake of law

— failure of the parties (and the trial court) to recognize the obstacle the settlement imposed to this court’s jurisdiction

— and would be8

voidable on remand on Rotunda’s motion. 4 Th e issues presented would then return to us inevitably, Rotunda as se r ts, as questions certified by the trial court under Super. Ct. Civ. R. 54 (b). 5 We need not decide whether Rotunda is correct in this reasoning, but the obvious complexity of a situation in which a settlement expressly meant to preserve a right of appeal is now argued to have mooted that right confirms the advisability of entertaining the appeal.

III. T he M erits

As in Grayson , supra , t he issue we decide here arises under amendments made in the year 2000 to the CPPA. Among other changes , whereas formerly D.C. Code § 28

- 3905 (k) (1) allowed a consumer to bring suit under the statute if he or

4 “Settlement agreements are construed under general principles of contract law.” Dyer v. Bilaal , 983 A.2d 349, 355 (D.C. 2009) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Rotunda cites principles approved and applied by this court, including in the R ESTATEMENT (S ECOND ) OF C ONTRACTS §§ 152, 153 (1981), to support the argument that a mistaken b elief by both parties that they could settle Rotunda’s individual claim while preserving the representative action would require rescission, because the mistake goes to a basic assumption in the settlement.

5 Judge Weisberg recognized the likely availabi lity of certification of the issues resolved by his dismissal, but agreed with the parties that a settlement and final judgment contingent on appeal as to those issues is “probably a better route because there are standards for what can be certified.”9

she had been “victimized by [an] unlawful trade practice[],” District Cablevision Ltd. P’ship v. Bas sin , 828 A.2d 714, 717 (D.C. 2003), the statute as amended “expand[ed] the potential plaintiff class so as to permit representative actions on
behalf of consumers , ” broadly defined as “the general public.” Ford v. Chart O ne, Inc. , 908 A.2d 72, 81 n.8 (D.C. 2006) (citation omitted)

. 6 The amended statute also expanded the remedies available to redress unlawful trade practices to include injunctive relief and, “in representative actions, additional relief as may be necessary to restore to the consumer” gains from an unlawful trade practice

. D.C. Code § 28

- 3905 (k) (1)(E).

However, d espite now including “the general public” as a potential plaintiff in representative actions, the 2000 amendments were virtually silent on how broadly

- contoured actions for damages are to be regulated or managed. For one thing, the statute says nothing on the critical issue of how absent members of the represented class are to be given notice so as to make their own decisions whether

6 S pecifically, the amendments allowed “[a] person, whether acting for the interests of itself, its members, or the general public, . . . [to] bring an action under this chapter . . . seeking relief from the use by any person of a trade practice in violation of the law of the District of Columbia. . . .” D.C. Code § 28

- 3905 (k) (1 )(B) . At the same time, the definition of “person” was enlarge d to mean “an individual

. . . or any . . . organization 

### , legal entity, or group of individuals however organized.” Id

. § 28

- 3901 (a)(1).10

to be bound by the suit. In that reg ard it differs, for instance, from a law enacted years earlier authorizing the District government to “bring a civil action . . . as parens patriae on behalf of any ” resident injured by an anti

- trust violation, but under which the District must, “at such t imes, in such manner, and with such
conten t as the court may direct, cause notice to be given by publication” and any “further notice” the court deems necessary to protect the “due process” rights of any affected “person or persons.” D.C. Code § 28

- 4507 ( b), ( c )(1). Th is notice is
meant , among other things, to enable a “person on whose behalf” an action has been brought to “elect t o exclude from adjudication the portion of the District of Columbia claim for monetary relief attributable to that person by f iling notice of such election with the court . . . .” Id . § 28

- 4507 (c)(2).

The parties r ecognize, of course, that Superior Court Civil Rule 23 deals expressly with the issue of notice in suits for damages brought by “[o]ne or more
members of a class . . . as representative parties

. ” Rule 23 (a). Like the anti

- trust
statute cited above, the rule makes “the best notice practicable under [ the ] circumstances” a condition of later binding absent members to a judgment unless they “request exclusion” or ent er their own appearance in the action. Rule 2311

(c)(2). 7 Rotunda, however, argue s that the silence of the CPP A on the notice issue and , indeed, on any other procedural matter affecting due process is unremarkable and affords no reason to believe the D.C. Council meant to subject CPPA actions
to Rule 23’s requirements . That is so , he says , because trial judges in such actions have “equitable discretion” or inherent authority “to craft appropriate practical solutions” and “to manage the cases before them” f ully in keeping with due process. Br ief for Rotunda at 28 , 30 . But this argument that outside the framework of Rule 23 judges can i mprovise p rocedures regulating representative suits encounters significant problems. On the key issue of notice, for examp le, Rotunda is at odds with the District of Columbia as amicus curiae , w hich otherwise supports hi m on the relation of Rule 23 to suits for damages under the
CPPA. Rotunda contend s that “ [ n ] othing in the [CPPA] prevents members of the general public who decline statutory damages [ 8 ] from bringing an independent

7 The notice provision of Rule 23 is limited to those class actions “maintained under subsection (b)(3)” of the rule. As we recognized in Ford , supra , itself a class action brought under the CPPA, “[c]lass actions seeking mainly monetary relief usually fall under Rule 23 (b)(3), which not only implicates class member notification and opt

- out rights but also mandates additional findings by the trial court.” 908 A.2d at 88.

8 Available relief under the CPPA includes “treble damag es, or $1,500 per violation, whichever is greater, payable to the consumer.” D.C. Code § 28

- 3905 (k)(2)(A).12

action to prove a claim and recover whatever damages that perso n asserts are due.”
Re p ly B rief for Rotunda at 3. But that begs the question of whether absent members of the putative class can be r equired to “ decline . . . damages” (emphasis added) or else be bound by the class

- wide judgment . The District is clear on the issue : “[T]he CPPA does not allow trial courts to create an ‘opt

- out’ system in
which those who remain silent [ i.e. , do not “decline” participation] would be bound by any judgment.” Brief for the District of Columbia at 18. This is in evident recognition that, outside of detailed structures regulating class actions like those in Rule 23 , a procedure binding absent cl ass members who do not affirmatively distance themselves from the suit would present grave due process concerns.

At the same time, the District’s suggested procedure for alleviating these

concerns

— lukewarmly endorsed by Rotunda at oral argument

— highl ights the difficulty in a ssuming that the Council intended a divorce between the CPPA and Rule 23’s procedur es . Non

- applicability of Rule 23 would not preclude a court, the District says, from adopting an “opt

- in” procedure requiring that “absent ‘class’ members affirmatively opt in to the action in order to be bound.” Brief for the District of Columbia at 17. Th is improvisation might indeed allay due process concerns, but by effectively turning the CPPA action for damages into what it is13

not, namely a “ collective action,” id ., maintained by multiple named plaintiffs rather than the representative suit the CPPA envisions. For this model the District and Rotunda point to suits brought under 29 U.S.C. § 216 (b) (2012) , part of the federal Fair Labor Stand ards Act. But that statute, as courts have recognized, by its terms confer s no right on a plaintiff to recover representatively on behalf of

non - present claimants. Section 216 (b) extends to absent third

- parties the right to join an existing law suit, me aning that “a named plaintiff . . . d[oes] not represent the interests of similarly

- situated [plaintiff

- ]employees who [have] not yet opted in.” Sandoz v. Cingular Wireless LLC , 553 F.3d 913, 917 (5th Cir. 2008). Nothing in the CPPA amendments suggest s that in place of Rule 23’s notice and opt

- out procedures the Council envisioned a proce ss such as this that effectively eliminates the representative character of a suit for damages.

Yet another deep uncertainty, in our view, would beset the effort to r egulate
CPPA actions on behalf of “the general public” outside R ule 23 ’s framework. On a par with the rule’s notice requirements mean t to secure “the interest of members of the class in individually controlling the prosecution or defense of separate actio ns,” R ule 2 3 (b)( 3)(A), is its concern with the manageability of suits brought14

on behalf of a potentially vast number of plaintiffs. 9 See , e.g. , R ule 23 (b)(3)(D) (court must consider “the difficulties likely to be encountered in the management
of a class action” before determining that a representative suit is superior to other modes of adjudication). Rule 23 enables the trial court to determine “whether under the particular circumstances maintenance of a class action [ will be ] economical,” General Tel. Co. of the Southwest v. Falcon , 457 U.S. 147, 15 7 n.13 (1982), and thus to refuse to certify the action, or to order redefinition of the alleged class, i f the evidence proffered threatens a proliferation of individual issues

— a nd attendant s ub

- trials

— incompatible with “[t]he core concept underlying the
class action device

. 

### . . that there be questions of law or fact common to the class.”
Ford , 908 A.2d at 85.

The danger of such proliferation of issues not amenable to trial in one action, even with “divi[sion] into subclasses,” Rule 23 (c)(4)(B), is most acute as to allegations of fraud or misrepresentation, particularly when oral representation s
may be involved. See W RIGHT , M ILLER & K ANE , F EDERAL P RACTICE AND P ROCEDURE § 1781.1 at 2 6 2

- 64 ( 3d ed. 2005) (discussing securities

- fraud actions

9 Rotunda, for example, brought this suit on behalf of the “general public” defined as all guests of the Marriott Russian hotels who reside anywhe re in the world and are “consumers” under the CPPA.15

and pointing out that, notwithstanding class

- wide fraud allegations, “[i]f it later is determined that the issues pertaining to each class member are so varied that it would be impractical to continue the entire a ction under Rule 23, the reference to a class action can be eliminated under [Rule 23] (d)(4) and the action allowed to proceed [only] on an individual basis”); see also id . § 1781.1, at 279

- 80 (“if the court finds that there are any material variations in the content of the misrepresentations or if oral representations are involved, a class action may be inappropriate”).

Not only does Rotunda ’s complaint rest on allegations of misrepresentation, but the CPPA itself makes actionable a wide array of false or misleading representations and omi s sions of material fact. See , e.g. , § 28

- 3904 (a)

- (f), (j), (k) , ( 1 ). Yet it is wholly unclear from Rotunda’s brief or oral argument

— or from the District’s position as amicus

— whether they would recognize inherent authority of the court to eliminate from a CPPA complaint “allegations as to representation of absent persons,” Rule 23 (d)(4), if the court concludes that individual issues of fact or law (say, as to liability) will predominate over common ones and threat en a succession of mini

- adjudications in the guise of a representative action. If indeed the trial court has th e “equitable discretion” (Br. for Rotunda at 30) to declare the16

representative action unmanageable , then it is not evident why Rotunda resists application of Rule 23’s procedures to a CPPA action , when the alternative

— as Marriott’s counsel aptly styled it at oral argument

— is an array of makeshift “ R ule
23

- L ite” controls available to the court i n exercising its inherent authority . But if,

on the other hand, Rotunda maintains a nd i s correct that the representative plaintiff has exclusive control under the CPPA of whether the action may suitably proceed

as a class

- wide one despite insuperable “ difficulties likely to be encountered in [its] manag ement,” Rule 23 (b)(3)(D), then the legislature will have tied the hand s of trial judges for a potentially large array of representative actions , without having stated its clear intent to do so.

In these circumstances, we conclude that decision here should be guided by the approach th e court followed in its en banc decision in Grayson , supra . In Grayson , the primary issue was whether the same 2000 amendment to the CPPA allowing one “acting for the interests of . . . the general public” to bring suit evinced an intent of the Council “to override or disturb [this court’s] constitutional

. . . re quirement” that a plaintiff show injury

- in

- fact. Grayson , 15 A.3d at 245. We recognized, of course, that the requirement of standing

— proof of “some
threatene d or actual injury resulting from . . . putatively illegal action,” id . at 22417

( citation omitted)

— does not bind this court constitutionally, since “we are an Article I Court.” Id . at 233. But as a general rule , “[t]hrough the years our cases
consistent ly have followed the constitutional minimum of standing,” id

. at 235, chiefly in recognition “that an adversary system can best adjudicate real , not abstract, conflicts.” Id . at 233 (quoting District of Columbia v. Walters , 319 A.2d 332, 33 7 n . 1 3 (D.C. 1974) ) ; see also Fraternal Order of Police v. District of Columbia , 113 A.3d 195, 199 (D.C. 2015) (“we typically ‘follow[] the principles of standing, justiciability, and mootness’ for prudential reasons” (quoting Atchison )).

The court therefore inquired in Grayson whether “the words of the 2000 amendments, viewed in the context of the legislative and drafting history,” reveal “an explicit intent” to erase the standing requirement to which this court has
adhered

. 15 A.3d at 224 (footnote omitted)

. It fo und no such declared intention. The word s of § 28

- 3905 (k) ( 1 ), we acknowledged, “at first blush may appear to be crystal clear” in dispensing with a standing requirement, id . at 243, but the larger statutory context and the changes the Council otherwise “expressly” intended to18

make by the 2000 amendments 10 le f t us unconvinced that subsection 3 905 (k) (1) was a “clear expression” of an intent “so unusual ” as to dispense with our longstanding injury

- in

- fact requirement. Id . at 24 3

- 4 4.

Like this court’s standing requirement, Rule 23 has been a mainstay of Superior Court civil practice for decades, 11 the time

- tested framework within which suits for damages by class

- member s “as rep resentative parties,” Rule 23 (a), have been maintained. The detailed procedures it contains and the authority it invests in the c o urt to administer them address the concerns o f constitutional fairness and case management that arise in suits brought on be half of potentially large numbers of absent class

- members. As in Grayson , we believe that before the Council is understood to have abrogated or repealed the rule’s application to representative suits under the CPPA , it must be seen t o have done so unambiguously

— “clear[ly] or explicit[ly].” Grayson , 15 A.3d at 242. Especially

10 “[O]ur reading of the legislative and drafting history,” we said, “indicates that the Council expressly sought to augment the remedies available to enforce the CPPA under a revised § 28

- 3905 (k)(1) by providing for injunctive relief and merchant disgorgement of ill

- gotten gains . . . and by expanding [the District Attorney General’s] authority” in enforcing consumer protection. Grayson , 15 A.3d at 245.

11 This court’s decisions citing the rule go back at least to Smith v. Murphy , 294 A.2d 357, 360 (D.C. 1972), shortly after the Superior Court was established.19

when the alternative, as Judge Bartnoff stated in the Margolis opinion cited at the outset, is to force trial judges to “make up new rules [on an ad hoc basis ] in CPPA representative actions for damages, ” Margolis , 2009 D.C. Super. LEXIS 8, at *14,

we choose instead to require explicit proof o f the Council ’ s intent for this pro tanto repeal of procedures that arguably are as important to the Superior Court ’ s “judicial self

- governance,” Warth v. Seldin , 422 U.S. 490, 500 (1975), as the injury

- in

- fact requirement we have imposed on ourselves.

Rotunda ha s furnished us with no unambiguous evidence, in the 2000 amendments or the supporting legislative history, th at the Council meant to displace the Rule 23 framework in favor of improvised due process and management devices for a whole sub

- set of representative actions. Nor do we agree with the District ’s suggestion that “[i]f the Council intended representati ve

a ctions for damages on behalf of the general public to be treated like class actions, ” the CPPA ’ s language recognizing s uch suits “ was completely unnecessary ” and

“ superfluous. ” Brief for the Dis trict of Col umbia at 8. 12 Beyond the fact that “t he

canon against surplusage is not an absolute rule , ” Marx v. General Revenue Corp .,

12 This is so, it says, because “aggrieved persons have always been able to bring a class action for violations of the CPPA.” Id . at 7

- 8, citi ng e.g. , Ford , supra .20

133 S. Ct. 1166, 1177 (2013) , the Council ’ s affirm ation of the right to bring representative suits within the framework of Rule 23 would be wholly consistent with what i t otherwise did in the 2000 amendments by, among other things, expanding the remedies for proven CPP A violations , particularly in representative suits, § 28

- 3905 (k)( 2 )(E), and enlarging the definition of who may sue

— i.e. , of

“ person ”

— to include any “ group of individuals however organized. ” Id

. § 28

- 3901 (a)(1). Further, a c ourt administering Rule 23 in a CPPA action would have to be mindful of another “ key . . . amendment ” in 2002 which requires the CPPA to

“ be construed and applied liberally to promote its purpose. ” Grayson , 15 A.3d at 242 (quoting D.C. Code § 28

- 3901 (c)). Th e example for such sensitivity to the statute’s purpose was set in Ford v. ChartOne , supra , where our analysis made clear that before denying class

- certification in a CPPA action, the trial court must scrutinize a c laim, for example, that individual issues of liability will predominate over common issues so as to make the representative action unmanageable. See 908 A.2d at 89

- 93. Altogether, the 2000 amendments give full meaning to t he Council’s recognition of a representati ve suit for damages under the CPPA even if the necessary vehicle for suits seeking class

- wide damages remains Rule 23.21

In sum , the unique challenges to procedural fairness and administration posed by a representat ive suit for damages require certainty, in our view, th at the legislature has taken them into account before displacing the framework that has governed such suits for decades in the Superior Court. 13 O nly a clear statement of intention to do so by Council, which the 2000 amendments do not evince, can provide that assurance .

F or these reasons, the judgment of the Superior Court is Affirmed

.

13 The parties do not contend, nor is it the case, that further amendments to the CPPA in 2012 make clear

— retroactively

— the Council’s intent in 2000 to supplant the applicability of Rule 23 to representative suits under the statute. “[S]uch postenactmen t views,” in any event, “‘form a hazardous basis for inferring the intent’ behind a statute.” United States v. Monsanto , 491 U.S. 600, 610 (1989).