Opinion ID: 150495
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Identify Class Claims

Text: If the District Court ultimately determines that certification of a more limited class of indirect purchasers is appropriate under Rule 23, any certification order that the Court issues must contain greater detail than the one currently on appeal. Under Rule 23(c), each class certification order must contain (1) a readily discernible, clear, and precise statement of the parameters defining the class or classes to be certified, and (2) a readily discernible, clear, and complete list of the claims, issues or defenses to be treated on a class basis. In re Constar Int'l Inc. Sec. Litig., 585 F.3d 774, 782 (3d Cir.2009) (quotations omitted); see also FED.R.CIV.P. 23(c)(1)(B) (An order that certifies a class action must define the class and the class claims, issues, or defenses....). As the objectors correctly note, the District Court's class certification order does not comport with the second requirement. The final order of certification adequately delineates the parameters of the indirect purchaser class, defining class membership to include purchasers in the United States who acquired any gem diamond from an entity other than De Beers or another rough diamond mining or production company, such as ALROSA, Rio Tinto, or BHP. It also identifies five legal issues supposedly common to the class. [18] But the order does not identify what state law claims or defenses will receive class treatment. The District Court recognized that the indirect purchasers were advancing state antitrust, consumer protection, and unjust enrichment claims, and that variations exist between the antitrust and consumer protection laws of different states. (App. at 279.) However, the Court never identified pertinent state antitrust or consumer protection statutes, explained the relevant state common law of unjust enrichment, or described how those statutes and the common law affect class-wide rights. Nor did the Court indicate whether the class antitrust issues that it actually identified would affect the consumer protection and unjust enrichment claims. The failure to do so constitutes an abuse of discretion. Cf. Wachtel ex rel. Jesse v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 453 F.3d 179, 185 (3d Cir.2006) (concluding that a district court abuses its discretion when it articulates general issues of fact common to the class but fails to identify the particular claims that would be subject to class treatment). Thus, the District Court's class certification order is deficient because the precise claims subject to class treatment are not readily discernible from the text of the order and the accompanying opinion. Id. On remand, any certification order [19] must identify with particularity both the prerequisites for membership in the class and the issues or claims that will be resolved on a class-wide basis. This means that the order should identify class issues and explicitly state whether those issues apply to the indirect purchasers' antitrust, consumer protection, or unjust enrichment claims, or to some combination of the three. While the District Court need not follow a particular formula when setting forth class-wide issues, we have recommended that the format of an enumerated list can bring clarity to matters subject to class adjudication and facilitates appellate review of a certification order. Id. at 188 n. 10. Accordingly, we will remand this case both because the indirect purchaser class as currently defined is overbroad and because the District Court's certification order did not sufficiently identify those claims and issues subject to the class treatment.