Source: https://www.povertylaw.org/clearinghouse/fpmd/chapter3/section3
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 05:26:58+00:00

Document:
Mootness issues can arise in cases in which the plaintiff challenges actions or policies which are temporary in nature, in which factual developments after the suit is filed resolve the harm alleged, and in which claims have been settled.
Generally, a case is not moot so long as the plaintiff continues to have an injury for which the court can award relief, even if entitlement to the primary relief has been mooted and what remains is small.6 Put differently, the presence of a “collateral” injury is an exception to mootness.7 As a result, distinguishing claims for injunctive relief from claims for damages is important. Because damage claims seek compensation for past harm, they cannot become moot.8 Short of paying plaintiff the damages sought, a defendant can do little to moot a damage claim. The virtual impossibility that unpaid damage claims can become moot gives rise to a technique for avoiding mootness: plead a claim for damages if the claim has a reasonable basis.9 Although later events may moot the claim for injunctive relief, the claim for damages presents an opportunity to determine the legality of the conduct at issue.10 An interest in attorney fees, however, will not save a case involving nothing more from mootness.11 Similarly, in considering mootness, it is important to distinguish between claims for different forms of injunctive relief. For example, claims for retroactive injunctive relief are not moot simply because claims for prospective relief are. The past injury has not been remedied.
In the absence of a claim for damages, a suggestion of mootness should not trigger a reflexive response in opposition to dismissal.12 Before investing substantial time and resources in an attempt to resuscitate an apparently moot claim, consider carefully whether any benefit is to be gained. Some cases are truly moot when no present consequences are traceable to the challenged conduct, and, for whatever reason, the conduct is unlikely ever to recur.13 In such cases, resisting dismissal without prejudice on the ground of mootness makes no sense. The suggestion of mootness should be an occasion to reevaluate both the factual and legal merits of a lawsuit. While the natural reaction during litigation is to resist, there are times when it is better to fight another day with a different plaintiff.
If such a fight is appropriate, it will likely be over whether one of the well-established exceptions to mootness applies or how the exception may apply in the class action context. We, therefore, focus upon three issues: When does the voluntary cessation of unlawful conduct render a case moot? When does the termination of an injury “capable of repetition yet evading review” render a case moot? How are mootness principles applied in class actions?
The Court has considered three principal exceptions to the mootness doctrine.
First, actions evade review when they are “too short to be fully litigated prior to cessation or expiration.”33 The question is whether the action is inherently of brief duration or whether it can be reviewed in sufficient time for the plaintiff to obtain a meaningful remedy if she prevails.34 Therefore, if circumstances suggest that a possible recurrence of challenged conduct could be litigated should it arise, courts decline to invoke the exception. Such circumstances include the possible use of motions for preliminary injunction, emergency stays, and expedited appeals. Should a plaintiff fail to attempt to avail itself of these procedural opportunities, courts are disinclined to regard the matter as evading review.35 Advocates are, therefore, advised first to pursue these avenues for relief when appropriate.
Class actions raise the question of whether the claims of the class become moot when the individual claims of the class representatives are moot. In litigation involving recurrent conduct of short duration, pleading a claim as a class action before the conduct terminates may offer a greater likelihood of avoiding mootness. Once certified, the case does not become moot as long as the challenged conduct threatens a member of the class. Thus, class actions shift the mootness inquiry from whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the conduct will again affect the plaintiff to whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the conduct will affect the plaintiff class.
In Sosna v. Iowa, the first significant case dealing with the issue of mootness in class action practice, plaintiff, on behalf of a class, challenged a state requirement that a petitioner for divorce reside in the state for one year prior to filing the petition.50 / By the time the case was argued before the Supreme Court, the year period had ended, the named plaintiff was divorced, and the law would not again affect the plaintiff. The Court, nevertheless, found the case not to be moot because the certified class had acquired a legal status separate from the plaintiff and there were members of the class with live claims. Sosna suggests that this doctrine applies only to cases in which the named plaintiff’s claim was of brief duration and would, therefore, otherwise evade review.
In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez,60 the Supreme Court held that an unaccepted settlement offer or offer of judgment for full individual relief to a proposed class representative of a putative class does not moot the claim. Once ignored or rejected, the offer disappears. The Court's ruling eliminates a defense tactic to putative class actions by trying to cherry-pick the proposed class representatives. The Court, however, did not decide "whether the result would be different if a defendant deposits the full amount of the plaintiff's individual claim in an account payable to the plaintiff, and the court then enters judgment for the plaintiff in that amount."61 One can expect the Court to address mootness in that context in the fairly near future.
Geraghty is not a foolproof defense to mootness. The Court left district courts with considerable discretion in matters of class certification. Should a trial court dismiss before ruling on certification, Geraghty allows appeal on the question of class certification, not the merits. As a matter of practice, in certain cases the advocate may wish to consider avoiding the mootness issue by moving to amend the complaint to add claims of “live” representative plaintiffs.68 Whether this is possible may turn on the nature and duration of the claim at issue. Doing so requires the advocate to be vigilant in continuing to identify such plaintiffs following the commencement of litigation. Choosing not to name identified class representatives in a complaint in order to hold them in “reserve” for this purpose may raise difficult ethical issues and should not be undertaken without exploration of these issues. In any event, it is wise to move for class certification simultaneously with filing the complaint, or as shortly thereafter as is possible, particularly in cases of inherently short duration.
1. See Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Incorporated, 528 U.S. 167, 180 (2000).
3. Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 68 n.23 (1997).
5. Buckhannon Board and Care Home, Incorporated v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598, 608-10 (2001), discussed in Chapter 9 of this MANUAL. See also Gill Deford, The Prevailing Winds After Buckhannon, 36 Clearinghouse Rev. 313 (Sept.-Oct. 2002).
6. In Chafin v. Chafin, 133 S. Ct. 1017 (2013), the Supreme Court discussed mootness at length in a complex child abduction case and held that the dispute between the parents was not moot because issues regarding the custody of the child remained unresolved. The Court noted that the prospects of success of the suit were irrelevant to the mootness question, and uncertainty about the effectiveness and enforceability of any future order did not moot the case. Chafin, 133 S. Ct. at 1024-26. A case is moot, however, when the court cannot give any “effectual” relief to the party seeking it. See Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, 132 S. Ct. 2277, 2287 (2012); Church of Scientology of California v. United States, 506 U.S. 9, 12 (1992); Firefighter’s Local 1784 v. Stotts, 467 U.S. 561, 571 (1984); see also Tory v. Cochran, 544 U.S. 734, 736-37 (2005) (death of attorney Johnnie Cochran did not moot injunction enjoining plaintiff from defaming Cochran). A case can, of course, become moot when the plaintiff has abandoned their claims, but such abandonment must be unequivocal. Pacific Bell Telephone Company v. Linkline Communications, 555 U.S. 438, 446 (2009).
7. See, e.g., In re Burrell, 415 F.3d 994, 998 (9th Cir. 2005).
8. Board of Pardons v. Allen, 482 U.S. 369, 370 n.1 (1987), illustrates the use of a damage claim to avoid mootness. Prisoners who were denied parole without a statement of reasons challenged the denial. They claimed that the state statute mandating release under certain circumstances created a liberty interest in eligibility for parole protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Plaintiffs sought damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. Although plaintiffs were later released, mooting their individual claims for injunctive relief, their damage claims remained alive. Because the immunity of defendants was not settled, the Supreme Court reached the merits, holding that plaintiffs had a cognizable liberty interest in the processing of their parole applications. The Court remanded the case for further proceedings. See also City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Company, 488 U.S. 469, 478 n.l (1989). An inability to pay a damages judgment at present does not moot a claim. See United States v. Behrman, 235 F.3d 1049, 1053 (7th Cir. 2000). However, if the judgment seemingly could never be paid, a claim might be dismissed on prudential grounds. See, e.g., Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. Kooyomjian, 220 F.3d 10, 14-15 (1st Cir. 2000).
9. See Alvarez v. Smith, 558 U.S. 87, 130 S. Ct. 576, 580 (2009) (finding case seeking declaratory and injunctive relief moot when case was settled, noting that no request for damages was pled in the complaint). One approach to avoiding mootness in due process and other cases is to request nominal damages. Carey v Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 254 (1978); see Morgan v. Plano Independent School District, 589 F.3d 740, 748 n.31 (5th Cir. 2009) (collecting cases); Bernhardt v. County of Los Angeles, 279 F.3d 862, 872 (9th Cir. 2002) (“A live claim for nominal damages will prevent dismissal for mootness.”); Davis v District of Columbia, 158 F.3d 1342 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (“The violation of certain constitutional rights, characterized by the Supreme Court as ‘absolute,’ will support a claim for nominal damages without any showing of actual injury.”); Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 25 v. Smith, 846 F.2d 1499, 1503 (D.C. Cir. 1988); Beyah v. Coughlin, 789 F.2d 986, 988-89 (2d Cir. 1986); see also O’Connor v. Washburn University, 416 F.3d 1216, 1222 (10th Cir. 2005) (Establishment Clause claim); Blau v. Fort Thomas Public School District, 401 F.3d 381, 387 (6th Cir. 2005); (First Amendment claim); Utah Animal Rights Coalition. v. Salt Lake City Corporation, 371 F.3d 1248, 1257 (10th Cir. 2004) (First Amendment claim). But see Lister v. Lucey, 575 F.2d 1325, 1336 (7th Cir. 1978).
10. The use of damage claims to avoid mootness has limits. States and their agencies are immune under the Eleventh Amendment; those who act in a judicial capacity enjoy absolute immunity, and other officials enjoy qualified immunity. See Chapter 8 of this MANUAL. The assertion of a damage claim against a defendant who clearly enjoys immunity does not save a claim for injunctive relief from mootness. See Dean v. Blumenthal, 577 F.3d 60 (2d Cir. 2009). Before embarking on a damage claim of questionable validity, the attorney should consider Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. See Chapter 4.2 of this MANUAL.
11. See Lewis v. Continental Bank Corporation, 494 U.S. 472, 480 (1990); Cornucopia Institute v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 560 F.3d 673, 676 (7th Cir. 2009); Spirit of the Sage Council v. Norton, 411 F.3d 225, 229 (D.C. Cir. 2005).
12. A request for a declaratory judgment does not alone save a case from mootness when claims for injunctive relief are moot. Green v. Mansour, 474 U.S. 64, 67-72 (1985); Cornucopia Institute, 560 F.3d at 676 (finding request for declaratory relief moot when documents sought under the Freedom of Information Act were released); but see Super Tire Engineering Company v. McCorkle, 416 U.S. 115, 122-23 (1974) (finding request for declaratory judgment in labor case not moot after the end of strike mooted claim for injunctive relief). Generally, the mootness inquiry is not diminished in declaratory judgment actions. Gator.com Corp. v. L.L. Bean Incorporated, 398 F.3d 1125, 1129 (9th Cir. 2005).
13. Litigation challenging discontinued practices or policies that continue to produce collateral harm is not moot. See, e.g., Reno v. Bossier Parish School Board, 528 U.S. 320, 327 (2000) (challenge to redistricting plan following election is not moot because prior plan represents baseline for evaluating future challenges); Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts, 467 U.S. 561, 568-72 (1984) (city’s challenge to injunction prohibiting layoffs based on seniority system not mooted by recall of laid-off employees when injunction would require city to ignore seniority rights in future layoffs and would affect its ability to recruit new employees by precluding it from offering protection of layoff by seniority); Jago v. Van Curen, 454 U.S. 14, 21 n.3 (1981) (challenge to procedures leading to rescission of forthcoming parole not mooted by later release on parole when later release subject to restrictions not contemplated by original grant of parole); Youakim v. Miller, 425 U.S. 231, 236 n.2 (1976) (challenge to reduction in benefits for foster children related to foster parents not mooted by increase in benefits when effect is to discourage acceptance of other family members awaiting placement); Super Tire Engineering Company v McCorkle, 416 U.S. 115, 127 (1974) (challenge to rule denying Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits to strikers not mooted by settlement of strike when rule affects every labor dispute and collective bargaining agreement).
14. United States v. W.T. Grant Company, 345 U.S. 629, 633 (1953); see also Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Incorporated, 528 U.S. 167, 189, 193 (2000) (quoting and citing United States v. Concentrate Phosphate Export Association, 393 U.S. 199, 203 (1968)) (“A case might become moot if subsequent events made it absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur.”); Adarand Constructors v. Slater, 528 U.S. 216, 222 (2000) (burden of showing non-recurrence lies with party asserting mootness).
15. A different issue arises when a third party voluntarily discontinues conduct that is the focus of the litigation. In Iron Arrow Honor Society v. Heckler, 464 U.S. 67 (1983), the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare informed the University of Miami that the university had violated Title IX by permitting a student organization that barred women from membership to conduct its initiation ceremony on campus. The organization sued the secretary to enjoin further enforcement of the interpretation of Title IX. During the litigation, the university informed the organization that, irrespective of the outcome of the litigation, the organization would not be permitted to return to campus until the organization stopped discriminating. Because the university’s action effectively superseded the secretary’s action, the Supreme Court held the challenge to the secretary’s interpretation of Title IX moot, reasoning that the interpretation no longer could affect the organization. The Court did not decide whether the W.T. Grant standard applied to the voluntary acts of third parties; the Court reasoned that, even if it did, the public statement of the university president banning the organization from campus established that the controversy between the organization and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was unlikely ever to recur.
16. Friends of the Earth, 528 U.S. at 193-94.
17. City of Erie v. Pap’s A.M., 529 U.S. 277, 287-88 (2000).
18. Compare City News and Novelty Incorporated v. City of Waukesha, 531 U.S. 278, 284 (2001) (unsuccessful challenge to city licensing ordinance is moot when adult-oriented business decided not to renew license).
19. For a recent case touching on this factor, see Camreta v. Greene, 131 S. Ct. 2020, 2033-35 (2011).
20. Compare Sheely v. MRI Radiology Network, 505 F.3d 1173, 1187 (11th Cir. 2007) (defendant's failure to admit to wrongdoing suggests that cessation was driven by desire to avoid liability) and DeJohn v. Temple University, 537 F.3d 301, 309 (3rd Cir. 2008) (challenge to sexual harassment policy not moot when policy changed well into litigation and university continued to defend it) with Larsen v. U. S. Navy, 525 F.3d 1, 4 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (challenge to quota policy for chaplains moot when plaintiffs did not allege that replaced policy would be reinstated) and Wisconsin Right to Life, Incorporated v. Schober, 366 F.3d 485, 491-92 (7th Cir. 2004) (accepting assertions of state election board that it would not enforce a campaign finance law found unconstitutional, but not struck from the state code); 13A Charles A. Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 3533.7 at 353 (2d ed. 1984).
21. See Wernsing v. Thompson, 423 F.3d 732, 745 (7th Cir. 2005) (plaintiff did not show need for injunctive relief against prior restraint policy when new supervisor disclaimed the policy as only that of her predecessor), cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1004 (2006).
22. See United States v. W.T. Grant Company, 345 U.S. 629, 632 (1953); Desiderio v. National Association of Securities Dealers, 191 F.3d 198, 201-02 (2d Cir. 1999).
23. See, e.g., Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations v. Federal Aviation Administration, 370 F.3d 1184, 1190 (D.C. Cir. 2004); Committee in Solidarity with People of El Salvador v. Sessions, 929 F.2d 742, 744-45 (D.C. Cir. 1991); Mosley v. Hairston, 920 F.2d 409, 419 (6th Cir. 1990); Saladin v. City of Milledgeville, 812 F.2d 687, 691 (11th Cir. 1987) (removal of city seal containing the word Christianity from water tanks, vehicles, and uniforms and promise not to display it in the future moot challenge to display).
24. County of Los Angeles v. Davis, 440 U.S. 625, 631 (1979) (“[i]nterim relief or events have completely and irrevocably eradicated the effects of the alleged violation.”); Demery v. Arpaio, 378 F.3d 1020, 1025-26 (9th Cir. 2004) (sheriff stated intent to again show challenged webcams of jail facility on-line); Radio-Television News Directors Association v. Federal Communications Commission, 229 F.3d 269, 270-72 (D.C. Cir. 2000).
25. Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, 132 S. Ct 2277, 2287 (2012); Sasnett v. Litscher, 197 F.3d 290, 291-92 (7th Cir. 1999); United States v. Laerdal Manufacturing Corporation, 73 F.3d 852, 856 (9th Cir. 1995); Donovan v. Cunningham, 716 F.2d 1455, 1461-62 (5th Cir. 1983). See Walling v. Helmerich, 323 U.S. 37, 43 (1944).
26. National Advertising Company v. City of Miami, 402 F.3d 1329, 1334 (11th Cir. 2005) (zoning ordinance); see Citizens for Responsible Government State Political Action Committee v. Davidson, 236 F.3d 1174, 1181-84 (10th Cir. 2000) (election law); Mosley v. Hairston, 920 F.2d 409, 413-15 (6th Cir. 1990) (Aid to Families with Dependent Children statute); Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 121 v. City of Hobart, 864 F.2d 551, 553 (7th Cir. 1988) (wage and hour statute); see also Green v. Mansour, 474 U.S. 67-72 (1986) (prospective challenge to Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefit calculation rendered moot by superseding legislation requiring claimed deductions); Princeton University v Schmid, 455 U.S. 100 (1982) (per curiam) (repeal of university regulations moots challenge to their validity); Wright et al., supra note 207, § 3533.6.
27. See Allee v. Medrano, 416 U.S. 802 (1974) (superseding legislation mooted challenge to prior legislation except to extent that pending criminal prosecutions subject to injunction for bad-faith prosecution remain); Washington v. Daley, 173 F.3d 1158, 1164-65 (9th Cir. 1999); Amoco Production Company v. Fry, 118 F.3d 812, 815-16 (D.C. Cir. 1997).
28. City of Mesquite v. Aladdin’s Castle Incorporated, 455 U.S. 283, 288-89 (1982).
29. See Pederson v. Louisiana State University, 213 F.3d 858, 874-75 (5th Cir. 2000); Norman-Bloodsaw v. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, 135 F.3d 1260, 1274-75 (9th Cir. 1998); American Iron and Steel Institute v. Environmental Protection Agency, 115 F.3d 979, 1006-07 (D.C. Cir. 1997).
30. Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 17 (1996); Murphy v. Hunt, 455 U.S. 478, 482 (1982).
31. The Supreme Court in Renne v. Geary, 501 U.S. 312, 320 (1991), also suggested that the capable-of-repetition doctrine “will not revive a dispute which became moot before the action commenced.” The decision, criticized in Wright et al., supra note 207, § 3533.8 at 495 (Supp. 2003), has been repeated in Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Incorporated, 528 U.S. 167, 191 (2000) and Steel Company v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 523 U.S. 83, 109 (1998). Taken literally, the holding may threaten to limit this branch of mootness doctrine.
32. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court found claims not to be moot on these grounds on many occasions. See, e.g., International Organization of Masters v. Brown, 498 U.S. 466, 472-73 (1991) (challenge to union election rule); Meyer v. Grant, 486 U.S. 414, 417 n.2 (1988) (challenge to state law on electoral initiatives); Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 317-18 (1988) (claim under Education for the Handicapped Act); Burlington Northern Railroad Company v. Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, 481 U.S. 429, 436 n.4 (1987) (labor dispute); United States v. New York Telephone Company, 434 U.S. 159, 165 n.6 (1977) (challenge to order requiring pen register surveillance).
33. The most recent case on point is Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1969, 1976 (2016), in which the Court held that two-year procurement contracts are too short to permit judicial review of challenges by unsuccessful bidders and thus evade review. See Turner v. Rogers, 131 S. Ct. 2507 (2011) (Court held that post-release challenge to state's failure to provide non-custodial parent counsel in civil contempt proceeding at which he was sentenced for one year was not moot because one year was too short to litigate question and because he was likely subject to same proceeding because he remained in arrears). See also Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 17 (1998); Brock v. Roadway Express Inc., 481 U.S. 252, 258 (1987).
34. See Davis v. Federal Energy Commission, 554 U.S. 724, 735 (2008); Del Monte Fresh Produce Company v. United States, 570 F.3d 316, 321-22 (D.C. Cir. 2009).
35. See, e.g., Armstrong v. Federal Aviation Administration, 515 F.3d 1294, 1297 (D.C. Cir. 2008); Iowa Protection and Advocacy Services. v. Tanager, Incorporated, 427 F.3d 541, 544 (8th Cir. 2005); Minnesota Humane Society v. Clark, 184 F.3d 795, 797 (8th Cir. 1999); Freedom Party v. New York State Board of Elections, 77 F.3d 660, 662-63 (2d Cir. 1996); United States v. Taylor, 8 F.3d 1074, 1076-77 (6th Cir. 1993).
36. Federal Energy Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, 551 U.S. 449, 463 (2007) (referring to both formulations); see Buckley v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, 111 F.3d 524, 527-28 (7th Cir. 1997) (applying various standards of the possibility of recurrence, such as “reasonable expectation,” “demonstrated probability,” and not “highly unlikely”).
37. City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95 (1983); Buckley, 111 F.3d at 527-28 (“demonstrated possibility” required) (quoting Board of Education v. Steven L., 89 F.3d 464, 468 (7th Cir. 1996)).
38. Lyons, 461 U.S. at 109; see also Murphy v. Hunt, 455 U.S. 478, 482 (1982) (per curiam) (challenge to state constitutional provision denying pretrial release in sexual assault case mooted by conviction; no probability that plaintiff will again be arrested and detained pending trial); Weinstein v. Bradford, 423 U.S. 147, 149 (1975) (per curiam) (challenge to procedures governing release on parole mooted by unconditional release; no probability that plaintiff will again be affected by procedures).
39. Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 305 (1988).
41. Id. at 319 n.6. In Kingdomware, the plaintiff's "reasonable likelihood" of being awarded future government contracts if its interpretation of particular procurement statute prevails was sufficient to establish that the dispute was capable of repetition. Kingdomware, 136 S. Ct. at 1976. See Alvarez v. Smith, 130 S. Ct. 576, 581 (2009) (that plaintiffs will "likely" not be subject to challenged state procedures again moots challenge to them).
42. See Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581, 594 n.6 (1999) (action to require treatment for disabilities not moot even after plaintiffs were placed in requested programs because they had many institutional placements in the past).
43. Lyons, 461 U.S. at 107-8; DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U.S. 312, 318-19 (1974). Typical examples are when a student or youth challenges a policy but later graduates or matures to adulthood before resolution of the case. See Stotts v. Community Unit School District 1, 230 F.3d 989, 990-91 (7th Cir. 2000); Cole v. Oroville Union High School District, 228 F.3d 1092, 1098 (9th Cir. 2000). Cases seeking equitable relief involving prison conditions brought by inmates who are transferred or released are commonly moot for the same reason. See Rendelman v. Rouse, 569 F.3d 182, 186 (4th Cir. 2009); Herman v. Holiday, 238 F.3d 660, 665 (5th Cir. 2001); Smith v. Hundley, 190 F.3d 852, 855-56 (8th Cir. 1999); Kerr v. Farrey, 95 F.3d 472, 475-76 (7th Cir. 1996).
44. In Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 124 (1973), the Supreme Court held that the conclusion of a pregnancy did not moot a challenge to a statute prohibiting abortions without any showing that the plaintiff was likely to suffer another unwanted pregnancy.
45. Litigation brought by candidates challenging ballot access restrictions does not become moot when the election is complete. Norman v. Reed, 502 U.S. 279, 288 (1992); Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 784 n.3 (1983); Moore v. Ogilvie, 394 U.S. 814, 816 (1969). The Supreme Court shows no interest in the question of whether the affected candidate is likely to run for election again. See also Mandel v. Bradley, 432 U.S. 173, 175 n.1 (1977); Storer v Brown; 415 U.S. 724, 737 n.8 (1974); Brown v. Chote, 411 U.S. 452 (1973). But see Golden v. Zwickler, 394 U.S. 103, 109-10 (1969).
46. E.g., Press-Enterprise Company v. Superior Court, 478 U.S. 1, 6-7 (1986) (challenge to denial of access to pretrial hearing not mooted by release of transcript because plaintiff could be assumed to be subject again to exclusion from hearings); Globe Newspaper Company v. Superior Court, 457 U.S. 596, 602 (1982) (challenge to exclusion from portions of criminal trial involving testimony by minor who claimed to be victim of sexual battery not mooted by completion of trial for same reason); Richmond Newspapers Incorporated v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 563 (1980) (challenge to exclusion from criminal trial not mooted by completion of trial for same reason); Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 546 (1976) (challenge to restrictions on press coverage expiring when jury was empanelled was not moot).
47. A recent interesting example of this proposition is found in United States v. Howard, 429 F.3d 843, 848 (9th Cir. 2005). There, the court found a challenge to a policy of shackling pre-trial detainees for initial appearances was not moot after the plaintiffs had made their appearances, even though it was unknown whether the particular plaintiffs would again be arrested, because they challenged an on-going government policy.
48. See Alton and Southern Railway Company v. International Machinists and Aerospace Workers, 463 F.2d 872, 880 (D.C. Cir. 1972); accord United States v. W.T. Grant Company, 345 U.S. 629, 632 (1953) (repetition or review element, “together with a public interest in having the legality of the practices settled, militates against a mootness conclusion”).
49. Federal Energy Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Incorporated, 551 U.S. 449, 463-64 (2007). See Del Monte Fresh Produce Company v. United States, 570 F.3d 316, 324 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (the mootness question is not whether the precise facts will recur, but whether the legal wrong is likely to recur).
50. Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 402-03 (1975).
51. Franks v. Bowman Transportation Company, 424 U.S. 747 (1976).
53. See Kremens v. Bartley, 431 U.S. 119, 133-37 (1977).
54. Id. at 131-32 (remanding case for substitution of new class representatives).
55. U.S. Parole Commission v. Geraghty, 445 U.S. 388, 398-9 (1980).
56. Although Geraghty was allowed to challenge the denial of class certification on appeal, he was not allowed to litigate the merits until a class was properly certified. The Supreme Court noted that should an appellate court affirm denial of class certification, it would necessarily also affirm dismissal on the ground of mootness. Because the court of appeals had ruled that the class should have been certified, the Supreme Court remanded Geraghty to the district court for consideration of whether Geraghty should represent the class or whether another class representative should be appointed.
57. Geraghty, 445 U.S. at 403-04.
58. Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326 (1980). The Supreme Court distinguished these principles in Genesis Healthcare Corporation v. Symczyk, 133 S. Ct. 1523 (2013), a case in which it assumed that an unaccepted offer of judgment for complete relief under Rule 68 mooted plaintiff's claim. Given that assumption, later rejected in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 136 S. Ct. 663 (2016), the Court found moot a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act when the plaintiff, unjoined by any opt-ins, received an offer of judgment for full relief before moving for conditional certification. The Court stated that collective actions under the FLSA are "fundamentally different" from Rule 23 class actions. Symczyk, 133 S. Ct. at 1529.
59. Deposit Guaranty National Bank, 445 U.S. at 339.
60. 136 S. Ct. 663 (2016).
62. See Cruz v. Farquharson, 252 F.3d 530, 533 (1st Cir. 2001); Lusardi v. Xerox Corporation, 975 F.2d 964, 975 (3rd Cir. 1992).
63. For recent cases describing the two exceptions, see Olson v. Brown, 594 F.3d. 577 (7th Cir. 2010); Clark v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 590 F.3d 1134, 1139 (10th Cir. 2009).
64. U.S. Parole Commission v. Geraghty, 445 U.S. 388, 399 (1980); see also County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44, 50 (1991); see also Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 111 n. 11 (1975) (class action challenging state practice of holding criminal defendants accused by information without a probable cause hearing was not moot when the named class representatives were convicted because it was not certain that any named plaintiff would be in pre-trial detention long enough for the judge to rule on class certification). Even the pendency of a motion for class certification in a non-transitory case has been held to save a claim from mootness. See Zeidman v. J. Ray McDermott and Company, 651 F.2d 1030, 1051 (5th Cir. 1981); Susman v. Lincoln American Corporation, 587 F.2d 866, 869-71 (7th Cir. 1978).
65. See County of Riverside, 500 U.S. at 51-52 (1991) (“That the class was not certified until after the named plaintiffs’ claims had become moot does not deprive us of jurisdiction.... In such cases, the 'relation back' doctrine is properly invoked to preserve the merits of the case for judicial determination.”); Wade v. Kirkland, 118 F.3d 667, 669-70 (9th Cir. 1997); Robidoux v. Celani, 987 F.2d 931, 938-39 (2d Cir. 1993) (class action challenging delays in processing welfare applications; such delays are inherently transitory); Basel v. Knebel, 551 F.2d 395, 396 n.1 (D.C. Cir. 1977). For cases in which plaintiffs did not establish this, see Cruz, 252 F.3d at 534-34; Egan v Davis, 118 F.3d 1148, 1149-51 (7th Cir. 1997); Rocky v. King, 900 F.2d 864, 767-71 (5th Cir. 1990); Ahmed v. University of Toledo, 822 F.2d 26, 27-28 (6th Cir. 1987).
66. See Banks v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 977 F.2d 1081, 1085-86 (7th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 908 (1993); see also Holstein v. City of Chicago, 29 F.3d 1145, 1147 (7th Cir. 1994) (claim found moot, noting that no class certification motion had been filed); Brunet v. City of Columbus, 1 F.3d 390, 400 (6th Cir. 1993) (same). In Weiss v. Regal Collections, 385 F.3d 337, 342-49 (3d Cir. 2003), the court interestingly found, in the Rule 68 context, that plaintiff’s claim was not moot even though he had not yet filed a motion for class certification, because there was no apparent delay in his not doing so. See also Eckert v. Equitable Life Assurance Society, 227 F.R.D. 60, 63-64 (E.D.N.Y. 2005).
67. See Christiano v. Courts of the Justices of the Peace, 115 F.R.D. 240, 244-47 (D. Del. 1987).
68. Advocates in LSC-funded programs may not file or participate in class action litigation. 45 C.F.R. § 1617.

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