Opinion ID: 422016
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the class actions

Text: 19 While in prison on the Illinois mail fraud conviction, Martin-Trigona filed a number of class actions on behalf of all federal prisoners challenging various prison conditions and policies. In No. 82-2511, Martin-Trigona v. Smith, Martin-Trigona and another federal prisoner were the named plaintiffs in a class action challenging procedures that allowed prison officials to delay making certain deposits to prison commissary accounts. The district court denied class certification because it found that Martin-Trigona, even though a law school graduate, could not adequately represent the class; the court also granted summary judgment on the ground of mootness because both prisoners already had been released. 20 This court recently addressed these issues in a nearly identical suit. In Martin-Trigona v. Smith, 712 F.2d 1420 (D.C.Cir.1983), Martin-Trigona challenged, on behalf of all federal prisoners, the illegality of conditions to which he was exposed as a holdover prisoner. The court first noted that, because Martin-Trigona's conviction had been reversed and he had been released, all his individual claims were moot. Considering the class certification claim on the merits, the court found that Martin-Trigona was not qualified to represent such a large and geographically dispersed class, and concluded that a suit involving varying practices at diverse institutions across the country would be unmanageable in the district court. We then affirmed the district court's denial of class certification. 21 In the instant case, we agree with the district court that Martin-Trigona is not qualified to represent a class of all federal prisoners, and we conclude that the district court properly denied class certification. This conclusion means that there is no longer any live controversy before this court. Martin-Trigona's individual claims became moot when he was released from prison. Although a named plaintiff prisoner in a class action can continue to represent the class on appeal until the appellate court rules on class certification, once the appellate court determines that class certification was properly denied, the entire claim on the merits must be dismissed. United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty, 445 U.S. 388, 404, 100 S.Ct. 1202, 1212, 63 L.Ed.2d 479 (1980). For these reasons, we grant the government's motion for summary affirmance. 22 In No. 82-1392, Martin-Trigona v. Smith, Martin-Trigona, on behalf of all federal prisoners, seeks to bar the Attorney General from housing federal prisoners in nonfederal facilities that do not comply with the policy and program statements of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Because of substantial confusion surrounding the mailing of Martin-Trigona's brief, we dismissed the case for failure to prosecute. We now vacate the dismissal and grant the government's motion for summary affirmance for the same reason set forth above justifying the affirmance in case No. 82-2511.