Case Name: DEPOSIT GUARANTY NATIONAL BANK OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI v. ROPER et al.
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1980-03-19
Citations: 445 U.S. 326
Docket Number: No. 78-904
Parties: DEPOSIT GUARANTY NATIONAL BANK OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI v. ROPER et al.
Judges: Burger, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Brennan, White, Marshall, Rehnquist, and Stevens, JJ., joined. Rehnquist, J., post, p. 340, and Stevens, J., post, p. 342, filed concurring opinions. Blackmun, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 344. Powell, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stewart,. J., joined, post, p. 344.
Reporter: United States Reports
Volume: 445
Pages: 326–359

Head Matter:
DEPOSIT GUARANTY NATIONAL BANK OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI v. ROPER et al.
No. 78-904.
Argued October 2, 1979
Decided March 19, 1980
Burger, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Brennan, White, Marshall, Rehnquist, and Stevens, JJ., joined. Rehnquist, J., post, p. 340, and Stevens, J., post, p. 342, filed concurring opinions. Blackmun, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 344. Powell, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stewart,. J., joined, post, p. 344.
William F. Goodman, Jr., argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs was Vardaman S. Dunn.
Champ Lyons, Jr., argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Frederick G. Helmsing and W. Roberts Wilson.

Opinion:
Mb. Chief Justice Burger
delivered the opinion of the Court.
We granted certiorari to decide whether a tender to named plaintiffs in a class action of the amounts claimed in their individual capacities, followed by the entry of judgment in their favor on the basis of that tender, over their objection, moots the case and terminates their right to appeal the denial of class certification.
I
Respondents, holders of credit cards issued on the "Bank-Americard" plan by petitioner Deposit Guaranty National Bank, sued the bank in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, seeking to represent both their own interests and those of a class of similarly aggrieved customers. The complaint alleged that usurious finance charges had been made against the accounts of respondents and a putative class of some 90,000 other Mississippi credit card holders.
Respondents' cause of action was based on provisions of the National Bank Act, Rev. Stat. § 5197, 5198, as amended, 12 U. S. C. § 85, 86. Section 85 permits banks within the coverage of the Act to charge interest "at the rate allowed by the laws of the State, Territory, or District where the bank is located." In a case where a higher rate of interest than allowed has been "knowingly" charged, § 86 allows a person who has paid the unlawful interest to recover twice the total interest paid.
The modern phenomenon of credit card systems is largely dependent on computers, which perform the myriad accounting functions required to charge each transaction to the customer's-account. In this ease, the bank's computer was programmed so that, on the billing date, it added charges, subtracted credits, added any finance charges due under the BankAmericard plan, and prepared the customers' statements. During the period in question, the bank made a monthly service charge of 1%% on the unpaid balance of each account. However, customers were allowed 30 days within which to pay accounts without any service charge. If payment was not received within that time, the computer added to the customer's next bill 1%% of the unpaid portion of the prior bill, which was shown as the new balance. The actual finance charges paid by each customer varied depending on the stream of transactions and the repayment plan selected. In addition, the effective annual interest rate paid by a customer would vary because the same 1 % service charge was assessed against the unpaid balance no matter when the charged transactions occurred within the 30-60-day period prior to the billing date. This 1½% monthly service charge is asserted to have been usurious because under certain circumstances the resulting effective annual interest rate allegedly exceeded the maximum interest rate permitted under Mississippi law.
The District Court denied respondents' motion to certify the class, ruling that the circumstances did not meet all the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (b)(3). The District Court certified the order denying class certification for discretionary interlocutory appeal, pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 1292 (b); the proceedings were stayed for 30 days pending possible appellate review of the denial of class certification.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied respondents' motion for interlocutory appeal. The bank then tendered to each named plaintiff, in the form of an "Offer of Defendants to Enter Judgment as by Consent and Without Waiver of Defenses or Admission of Liability," the maximum amount that each could have recovered. The amounts tendered to respondents Roper and Hudgins were $889.42 and $423.54, respectively, including legal interest and court costs. Respondents declined to accept the tender and made a counteroffer of judgment in which they attempted to reserve the right to appeal the adverse class certification ruling. This counteroffer was declined by the bank.
Based on the bank's offer, the District Court entered judgment in respondents' favor, over their objection, and dismissed the action. The bank deposited the amount tendered into the registry of the court, where it remains. At no time has any putative class member sought to intervene either to litigate the merits or to appeal the certification ruling. It appears that by the time the District Court entered judgment and dismissed the case, the statute of limitations had run on the individual claims of the unnamed class members.
When respondents sought review of the class certification ruling in the Court of Appeals, the bank argued that the case had been mooted by the entry of judgment in respondents' favor. In rejecting the bank's contention, the court relied in part on United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald, 432 U. S. 385 (1977), in which we held that a member of the putative class could appeal the denial of class certification by intervention, after entry of judgment in favor of the named plaintiff, but before the statutory time for appeal had run. Roper v. Consurve, Inc., 578 F. 2d 1106 (CA5 1978). Two members of the panel read Rule 23 as providing for a fiduciary-type obligation of the named plaintiffs to act in a representative capacity on behalf of the putative class by seeking certification at the outset of the litigation and by appealing an adverse certification ruling. In that view, the District Court also had a responsibility to ensure that any dismissal of the suit of the named plaintiffs did not prejudice putative class members. One member of the panel, concurring specially, limited the ruling on mootness to the circumstances of the case, i. e., that, after filing of a class action, the mere tender of an offer of settlement to the named plaintiffs, without ac ceptance, does not moot the controversy so as to prevent the named plantiffs from appealing an adverse certification ruling.
Having rejected the bank's mootness argument, the Court of Appeals reviewed the District Court's ruling on the class certification question. It concluded that all the requisites of Rule 23 had been satisfied and accordingly reversed the adverse certification ruling; it remanded with directions to certify the class and for further proceedings.
Certiorari was sought to review the holdings of the Court of Appeals on both mootness and class certification. We granted the writ, limited to the question of mootness, to resolve conflicting holdings in the Courts of Appeals. 440 U. S. 945.
II
We begin by identifying the interests to be considered when questions touching on justiciability are presented in the class-action context. First is the interest of the named plaintiffs: their personal stake in the substantive controversy and their related right as litigants in a federal court to employ in appropriate circumstances the procedural device of a Rule 23 class action to pursue their individual claims. A separate consideration, distinct from their private interests, is the responsibility of named plaintiffs to represent the collective interests of the putative class. Two other interests are implicated: the rights of putative class members as potential intervenors, and the responsibilities of a district court to protect both the absent class and the integrity of the judicial process by monitoring the actions of the parties before it.
The Court of Appeals did not distinguish among these distinct interests. It reviewed all possible interests that in its view had a bearing on whether an appeal of the denial of certification should be allowed. These diverse interests are interrelated, but we distinguish among them for purposes of analysis, and conclude that resolution of the narrow question presented requires consideration only of the private interest of the named plaintiffs.
A
The critical inquiry, to which we now turn, is whether respondents' individual and private case or controversy became moot by reason of petitioner's tender or the entry of judgment in respondents' favor. Respondents, as holders of credit cards issued by the bank, claimed damages in their private capacities for alleged usurious interest charges levied in violation of federal law. Their complaint asserted that they had suffered actual damage as a result of illegal acts of the bank. The complaint satisfied the case-or-eontroversy requirement of Art. Ill of the Constitution.
As parties in a federal civil action, respondents exercised their option as putative members of a similarly situated cardholder class to assert their claims under Rule 23. Their right to -assert their own claims in the framework of a class action is clear. However, the right of a litigant to employ Rule 23 is a procedural right only, ancillary to the litigation of substantive claims. Should these substantive claims become moot in the Art. Ill sense, by settlement of all personal claims for example, the court retains no jurisdiction over the controversy of the individual plaintiffs.
The factual context in which this question arises is important. At no time did the named plaintiffs accept the tender in settlement of the case; instead, judgment was entered in their favor by the court without their consent and the case was dismissed over their continued objections. Neither the rejected tender nor the dismissal of the action over plaintiffs' objections mooted the plaintiffs' claim on the merits so long as they retained an economic interest in class certification. Although a case or controversy is mooted in the Art. Ill sense upon payment and satisfaction of a final, unappealable judgment, a decision that is "final" for. purposes of appeal does not absolutely resolve a case or controversy until the time for appeal has run. Nor does a confession of judgment by defendants on less than all the issues moot an entire case; other issues in the case may be appealable. We can assume that a district court's final judgment fully satisfying named plaintiffs' private substantive claims would preclude their appeal on that aspect of the final judgment; however, it does not follow that this circumstance would terminate the named plaintiffs' right to take an appeal on the issue of class certification.
Congress has vested appellate jurisdiction in the courts of appeals for review of final decisions of the district courts. 28 U. S. C. § 1291. Ordinarily, only a party aggrieved by a judgment or order of a district court may exercise the statutory right to appeal therefrom. A party who receives all that he has sought generally is not aggrieved by the judgment affording the relief and cannot appeal from it. Public Service Comm'n v. Brashear Freight Lines, Inc., 306 U. S. 204 (1939); New York Telephone Co. v. Maltbie, 291 U. S. 645 (1934); Corning v. Troy Iron & Nail Factory, 15 How. 451 (1854); 9 J. Moore, Federal Practice ¶ 203.06 (2d ed. 1975). The rule is one of federal appellate practice, however, derived from the statutes granting appellate jurisdiction and the historic practices of the appellate courts; it does not have its source in the jurisdictional limitations of Art. III. In an appropriate case, appeal may be permitted from an adverse ruling collateral to the judgment on the merits at the behest of the party who has prevailed on the merits, so long as that party retains a stake in the appeal satisfying the requirements of Art. III.
An illustration of this principle in practice is Electrical Fittings Corp. v. Thomas & Betts Co., 307 U. S. 241 (1939). In that case, respondents sued petitioners for infringement of a patent. In such a suit, the defense may prevail either by successfully attacking the validity of the patent or by successfully defending the charge of infringement. In Electrical Fittings the decree of the District Court adjudged the patent valid but dismissed the complaint for failure to prove infringement. The respondents did not appeal, but petitioners sought review in the Court of Appeals of so much of the decree as adjudicated the patent valid. Respondents filed a motion to dismiss the appeal "based on the ground that the appeal can raise no questions not already moot because of the fact that the [petitioners] have already been granted in the dismissal of the bill all the relief to which they are entitled." 100 F. 2d 403, 404 (CA2 1938). The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal on this ground after ruling that the decree of the District Court would not in subsequent suits, as a matter of collateral estoppel or otherwise, influence litigation on the issue of the patent's validity. On review here, this Court did not question the view that the ruling on patent validity would have no effect on subsequent litigation. Nevertheless, a unanimous Court allowed the appeal to reform the decree:
"A party may not appeal from a judgment or decree in his favor, for the purpose of obtaining a review of findings he deems erroneous which are not necessary to support the decree. But here the decree itself purports to adjudge the validity of [the patent], and though the adjudication was immaterial to the disposition of the cause, it stands as an adjudication of one of the issues litigated. We think the petitioners were entitled to have this portion of the decree eliminated, and that the Circuit Court of Appeals had jurisdiction, as we have held this court has, to entertain the appeal, not for the purpose of passing on the merits, but to direct the reformation of the decree." 307 U. S., at 242 (footnotes omitted).
Although the Court limited the appellate function to reformation of the decree, the holding relevant to the instant case was that the federal courts retained jurisdiction over the controversy notwithstanding the District Court's entry of judgment in favor of petitioners. This Court had the question of mootness before it, yet because policy considerations permitted an appeal from the District Court's final judgment and because petitioners alleged a stake in the outcome, the case was still live and dismissal was not required by Art. III. The Court perceived the distinction between the definitive mootness of a case or controversy, which ousts the jurisdiction of the federal courts and requires dismissal of the case, and a judgment in favor of a party at an intermediate stage of litigation, which does not in all cases terminate the right to appeal.
B
We view the denial of class certification as an example of a procedural ruling, collateral to the merits of a litigation, that is appealable after the entry of final judgment. The denial of class certification stands as an adjudication of one of the issues litigated. As in Electrical Fittings, the respondents here, who assert a continuing stake in the outcome of the appeal, were entitled to have this portion of the District Court's judgment reviewed. We hold that the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to entertain the appeal only to review the asserted procedural error, not for the purpose of passing on the merits of the substantive controversy.
Federal appellate jurisdiction is limited by the appellant's personal stake in the appeal. Respondents have maintained throughout this appellate litigation that they retain a continuing individual interest in the resolution of the class certification question in their desire to shift part of the costs of litigation to those who will share in its benefits if the class is certified and ultimately prevails. See n. 6, supra. This individual interest may be satisfied fully once effect is given to the decision of the Court of Appeals setting aside what it held to be an erroneous District Court ruling on class certification. In Electrical Fittings, the petitioners asserted a concern that their success in some unspecified future litigation would be impaired by stare decisis or collateral-estoppel application of the District Court's ruling on patent validity. This concern supplied the personal stake in the appeal required by Art. III. It was satisfied fully when the petitioners secured an appellate decision eliminating the erroneous ruling from the decree. After the decree in Electrical Fittings was reformed, the then unreviewable judgment put an end to the litigation, mooting all substantive claims. Here the proceedings after remand may follow a different pattern, but they are governed by the same principles.
We cannot say definitively what will become of respondents' continuing personal interest in their own substantive controversy with the petitioner when this case returns to the District Court. Petitioner has denied liability to the respondents, but tendered what they appear to regard as a "nuisance settlement." Respondents have never accepted the tender or judgment as satisfaction of their substantive claims. Cf. Cover v. Schwartz, 133 F. 2d 541 (CA2 1942). The judgment of the District Court accepting petitioner's tender has now been set aside by the Court of Appeals. We need not speculate on the correctness of the action of the District Court in accepting the tender in the first instance, or on whether petitioner may now withdraw its tender.
Perhaps because the question was not thought to be open to doubt, we have stated in the past, without extended discussion, that "an order denying class certification is subject to effective review after final judgment at the behest of the named plaintiff. . . ." Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U. S. 463, 469 (1978). In Livesay, we unanimously rejected the argument, advanced in favor of affording prejudgment appeal as a matter of right, that an adverse class certification ruling came within the "collateral order" exception to the final-judgment rule. The appealability of the class certifica tion question after final judgment on the merits was an important ingredient of our ruling in Livesay. For that proposition, the Court cited United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald, 432 U. S. 385 (1977). That case involved, as does this, a judgment entered on the merits in favor of the named plaintiff. The McDonald Court assumed that the named plaintiff would have been entitled to appeal a denial of class certification.
The use of the class-action procedure for litigation of individual claims may offer substantial advantages for named plaintiffs; it may motivate them to bring cases that for economic reasons might not be brought otherwise. Plainly there has been a growth of litigation stimulated by contingent-fee agreements and an enlargement of the role this type of fee arrangement has played in vindicating the rights of individuals who otherwise might not consider it worth the candle to embark on litigation in which the optimum result might be more than consumed by the cost. The prospect of such fee arrangements offers advantages for litigation by named plaintiffs in class actions as well as for their attorneys. For better or worse, the financial incentive that class actions offer to the legal profession is a natural outgrowth of the increasing reliance on the "private attorney general" for the vindication of legal rights; obviously this development has been facilitated by Rule 23.
The aggregation of individual claims in the. context of a classwide suit is an evolutionary response to the existence of injuries unremedied by the regulatory action of government. Where it is not economically feasible to obtain relief within the traditional framework of a multiplicity of small individual suits for damages, aggrieved persons may be without any effective redress unless they may employ the class-action device. That there is a potential for misuse of the class-action mechanism is obvious. Its benefits to class members are often nominal and symbolic, with persons other than class members becoming the chief beneficiaries. But the remedy for abuses does not lie in denying the relief sought here, but with re-examination of Rule 23 as to untoward consequences.
A district court's ruling on the certification issue is often the most significant decision rendered in these class-action proceedings. To deny the right to appeal simply because the defendant has sought to "buy off" the individual private claims of the named plaintiffs would be contrary to sound judicial administration. Requiring multiple plaintiffs to bring separate actions, which effectively could be "picked off" by a defendant's tender of judgment before an affirmative ruling on class certification could be obtained, obviously would frustrate the objectives of class actions; moreover it would invite waste of judicial resources by stimulating successive suits brought by others claiming aggrievement. It would be in the interests of a class-action defendant to forestall any appeal of denial of class certification if that could be accomplished by tendering the individual damages claimed by the named plaintiffs. Permitting appeal of the district court's certification ruling — either at once by interlocutory appeal, or after entry of judgment on the merits — also minimizes problems raised by "forum shopping" by putative class representatives attempting to locate a judge perceived as sympathetic to class actions.
That small individual claims otherwise might be limited to local and state courts rather than a federal forum does not justify ignoring the overall problem of wise use of judicial resources. Such policy considerations are not irrelevant to the determination whether an adverse procedural ruling on certification should be subject to appeal at the behest of named plaintiffs. Courts have a certain latitude in formulating the standards that govern the appealability of procedural rulings even though, as in this case, the holding may determine the absolute finality of a judgment, and thus, indirectly, determine whether the controversy has become moot.
We conclude that on this record the District Court's entry of judgment in favor of named plaintiffs over their objections did not moot their private case or controversy, and that respondents' individual interest in the litigation — as distinguished from whatever may be their representative responsibilities to the putative class — is sufficient to permit their appeal of the adverse certification ruling.
Affirmed.
Respondents' complaint also alleged a cause of action based on the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U. S. C. § 1601 et seq., but that claim was dismissed with prejudice at respondents' request.
The District Court found that the requirements of Rule 23 (b) (3) were not met because the putative class representatives had failed to establish the predominance of questions of . law and fact common to class members, and because a class action was not shown to be a superior method of adjudication due to (1) the availability of traditional procedures for prosecuting individual claims in Mississippi courts; (2) the "horrendous penalty," which could result in "destruction of the bank" if claims were successfully aggregated; (3) the substantive law of Mississippi which views the aggregation of usury claims as undesirable; and (4) the tremendous burden of handling 90,000 claims, particularly if counterclaims were filed.
Reversal of the District Court's denial of certification by the Court of Appeals may relate back to the time of the original motion for certification for the purposes of tolling the statute of limitations on the claims of the class members. See United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald, 432 U. S. 385 (1977).
E. g., Winokur v. Bell Federal Savings & Loan Assn., 560 F. 2d 271 (CA7 1977), cert. denied, 435 U. S. 932 (1978).
We note that Rule 23 (e) prescribes certain responsibilities of a district court in a case brought as a class action: once a class is certified, a class action may not be "dismissed or compromised without the approval of the court, and notice of the proposed dismissal or compromise shall be given to all members of the class in such manner as the court directs." Conceivably, there also may be circumstances, which need not be defined here, where the district court has a responsibility, prior to approval of a settlement and its dismissal of the class action, to provide an opportunity for intervention by a member of the putative class for the purpose of appealing the denial of class certification. Such intervention occurred in United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald, supra.
The dissent construes the notice of appeal as a complete abandonment by respondents of their Art. Ill personal stake in the appeal. Post, at 346. Such is not the case. Indeed, the appeal was taken by the named plaintiffs, although its only purpose was to secure class certification; throughout this litigation, respondents have asserted as their personal stake in the appeal their desire to shift to successful class litigants a portion of those fees and expenses that have been incurred in this litigation and for which they assert a continuing obligation. See Plaintiffs-Appellants' Brief in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss Appeal and Reply Brief in No. 76-3600 (CA5), pp. 4, 12, 16, 17.
In a sense, the petitioner in Electrical Fittings sought review of the District Court's procedural error. The District Court was correct in inquiring fully into the validity of the patent, Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U. S. 327, 330 (1945), but was incorrect to ad judge the patent valid after ruling that there had been no infringement. By doing so, the District Court had decided a hypothetical controversy, Altvater v. Freeman, 319 U. S. 359, 363 (1943); yet petitioners could take the appeal to correct this error because there had been an adverse decision on a litigated issue, they continued to assert an interest in the outcome of that issue, and for policy reasons this Court considered the procedural question of sufficient importance to allow an appeal.
In Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U. S. 463 (1978), we held that the class certification ruling did not fall within that narrow category of circumstances where appeal was allowed prior to final judgment as a matter of right under 28 U. S. C. § 1291. However, our ruling in Livesay was not intended to preclude motions under 28 U. S. C. § 1292 (b) seeking discretionary interlocutory appeal for review of the certification ruling. See 437 U. S., at 474-475. In some cases such an appeal would promise substantial savings of time and resources or for - other reasons should be viewed hospitably.
A significant benefit to claimants who • choose to litigate their individual claims in a class-action context is the prospect of reducing their costs of litigation, particularly attorney's fees, by allocating such costs among all members of the class who benefit from any recovery: Typically, the attorney's fees of a named plaintiff proceeding without reliance on Rule 23 could exceed the value of the individual judgment in favor of any one plaintiff. Here the damages claimed by the two named plaintiffs totaled $1,006.00. Such plaintiffs would be unlikely to obtain legal redress at an acceptable cost, unless counsel were motivated by the fee-spreading incentive and proceeded on a contingent-fee basis. This, of course, is a central concept of Rule 23.
This case does not raise any question as to the propriety of contingent-fee agreements.
See A. Miller, An Overview of Federal Class Actions: Past, Present, and Future 12 (Federal Judicial Center 1977).
Difficult questions arise as to what, if any, are the named plaintiffs' responsibilities to the putative class prior to certification; this case does not require us to reach these questions.