Opinion ID: 391390
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sosna v. Iowa and the Timing of the Class Certification Decision

Text: 59 Our analysis begins with Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975). Sosna, an Iowa resident who desired a divorce but had resided in Iowa for less than one year, brought a class action challenging an Iowa residency requirement that limited state-court divorce jurisdiction to persons who had resided in Iowa for at least one full year. The district court certified a class composed of all Iowa residents who had resided in Iowa for less than one year and who were barred by the state's residency requirement from procuring a desired divorce in state court. A three-judge district court upheld the Iowa statute and Sosna thereupon appealed to the Supreme Court. However, by this time Sosna had resided in Iowa for more than one year and had procured a divorce in another state; therefore, as the Supreme Court noticed sua sponte, Sosna's personal claim was moot. Still the Court did not dismiss the entire action, but instead ruled on the merits of the class' claims. 60 The Court's decision to reach the merits of the case despite the mootness of Sosna's individual claim seems to have rested on two separate theories. First, the Court explained that the unnamed members of the class certified by the district court presented justiciable claims independent of that asserted by the named plaintiff. Had the suit been brought only on Sosna's behalf, the Court would have dismissed it as moot; once a class was certified, however, the unnamed class members acquired a legal status separate from the interest asserted by (Sosna). 419 U.S. at 399, 95 S.Ct. at 557. In essence, the act of certification brought the unnamed members of the class before the court for Article III purposes; so long as their claims were justiciable, the mootness of the original named plaintiff's claim would not require dismissal. 61 Second, the Court explained that the controversy in Sosna was one of that narrow category of disputes that are saved from dismissal for mootness because they are capable of repetition, yet evading review. 12 Although Sosna herself could not reasonably be expected to face the same residency bar in the future, it was clear that the state would continue to enforce the residency requirement against unnamed members of the class Sosna sought to represent. 419 U.S. at 399-400, 95 S.Ct. at 557-58. And, because any litigation challenging the Iowa residency requirement at issue would surely outlive the one-year period of the requirement, no individual plaintiff (either named or unnamed) could retain a justiciable claim for the period necessary to see such a lawsuit to its conclusion. 419 U.S. at 400, 95 S.Ct. at 558. Therefore the underlying controversy would likely escape full review at the behest of any single challenger, that is, the controversy was capable of repetition, yet evading review. 419 U.S. at 401, 95 S.Ct. at 558. 62 The Court's holding in Sosna does not mean, however, that certification of a class with justiciable claims will in all cases save a lawsuit from dismissal for mootness. In order to satisfy the requirements of Article III, the named plaintiffs must have a justiciable case or controversy both at the time the complaint is filed and at the time the class is certified by the district court, and the case must present a live controversy at the time it is reviewed an appeal. 419 U.S. at 402, 95 S.Ct. at 558-59. In this way the holding in Sosna can be reconciled with the general rule relied upon by the district court in this case. According to that rule, a lawsuit brought as a class action must be dismissed for mootness when no class has yet been certified and the personal claims of all named plaintiffs become moot; under the Sosna holding, certification would have saved the case from dismissal by bringing the claims of the unnamed class members before the court, but only if certification had occurred while the named plaintiffs had justiciable claims, i. e., before the named plaintiffs' claims were rendered moot. In short, a lawsuit brought as a class action must present justiciable claims at each stage of the litigation; if the named plaintiffs' individual claims become moot before a class has been certified, no justiciable claims are at that point before the court and the case must as a general rule be dismissed for mootness. 63 Of course, justiciable claims may be made by either named or unnamed (class) plaintiffs; a suit that at the outset is justiciable because of the live claims of named plaintiffs may at a later stage be justiciable because of the live claims of the unnamed plaintiffs contained in a certified class. Still, however, the class that takes the place of named plaintiffs for Article III purposes must ordinarily do so while the named plaintiffs have justiciable claims; the Court's holding in Sosna does not contemplate the maintenance of a lawsuit that otherwise would be dismissed for mootness, solely for the purpose of establishing a class of unnamed plaintiffs with justiciable claims. As Sosna demonstrates, therefore, whether the mootness of all named plaintiffs' personal claims requires the dismissal of a suit brought as a class action largely depends on the timing of the class certification decision: certification saves the suit from dismissal only if it occurs prior to the satisfaction or expiration of the named plaintiffs' claims. 64