Opinion ID: 354255
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: I just couldn't bid or either just send a complimentary bid.

Text: 53 App. 70-71. 54 The distributor testified further that the manufacturer he dealt with had never given him a competitive allowance in Jefferson and Montgomery counties and that he had also never been the low bidder in those counties. The situation, however, was different in Mobile County where the distributor was the low bidder so long as he was given a competitive allowance. App. 42-43. As to the effect of this conspiracy on states outside of Alabama, the plaintiffs' only evidence consists of the following portion of a letter from the same Alabama distributor to his manufacturer: 55 With this thought in mind, I think the pending anti-trust suit in Alabama should be discussed. If this suit is filed, you can believe it will be against my company and Thomas Built Buses, Inc. What action do you plan to take from a local standpoint? There are many hidden factors concerning this type which should be discussed. I predict suits will eventually be filed in other southern states, such as Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. What policy does Thomas have concerning past regional sales managers in these areas? The present price situation in Alabama is largely due to price policies in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, of which Thomas is a part. 56 Brief of Appellees at 7. 57 The district court's error in certifying this nationwide class for a determination of liability was in failing to take the steps necessary to determine the manner in which the plaintiffs proposed to prove the antitrust violation. No one questions that it is the plaintiffs who have the burden of establishing that all requirements of Rule 23 have been met, and in this case they have failed to prove to us that there are any common issues of law or fact which predominate over individual issues. The excerpts from the deposition of the Alabama distributor are probative only of the possibility of an Alabama conspiracy they in no way establish that a price fixing scheme was contemplated in California, New York, Idaho, etc. Of greater importance, however, is whether we are supposed to infer from this offer of proof by the plaintiffs that this is the manner in which they plan on establishing the nationwide conspiracy i.e. by an examination through testimony, exhibits, etc., of the various school bus markets on a state by state basis. If this is the situation, then we fail to see how common issues of fact predominate. Of course, it may very well be that if the plaintiffs had been allowed discovery as to this point they would have uncovered evidence which not only would have established a nationwide conspiracy, but evidence which at the same time would have been common to all members of the class. It may be that the plaintiffs have this evidence now. We only point out that in a situation wherein one seeks to represent a nationwide class in order to obtain redress for harm done from a nationwide conspiracy consideration should be given to whether the addition or subtraction of any of the plaintiffs to or from the class will have a substantial effect on the substance or quantity of evidence offered. If such addition or subtraction of plaintiffs does affect the substance or quantity of evidence offered, then the necessary common question might not be present. 24 This point limits somewhat the breadth of Judge Varner's statement that antitrust price-fixing cases are particularly suitable for class action treatment. App. 166. While this statement is generally true, this particular litigation might not fit into the category of a classic antitrust price-fixing conspiracy where all legal and factual issues relating to the conspiracy are uniformly related to all those allegedly harmed. Rather, in this case neither the products involved nor the purchasers appear to be standardized. The plaintiffs' class includes different sizes of governmental buyers, operating under different conditions throughout the United States, and the products involved, while commonly known as school bus bodies, apparently differ in many respects and have been marketed under various arrangements at different times. 25 Because of these factors, the defendants contend that a common scheme to rotate bids, fix prices, etc., cannot be demonstrated as to all defendants. While we do not necessarily agree with this assessment, it does appear from the limited record before us that the plaintiffs plan to proceed state by state and prove by varying evidence fifty different price-fixing conspiracies. Possibly the plaintiffs think if they can prove that a conspiracy existed in every state, they can then term these different violations one nationwide conspiracy. If this is indeed the plaintiffs' plan, then the national class should not have been certified since there would be no evidence linking the different conspiracies to each other in order to establish the one common conspiracy. 26 Common issues of fact do not predominate in such a situation even though all the plaintiffs might have separate causes of actions against the same defendants based upon similar theories of recovery. 58 The Court, however, is presently unable to make the determination as to whether the conspiracy issue is a question common to the class. It would be unfair for us to make this determination based on the present state of the record since the plaintiffs have been placed at a severe disadvantage by the district court's decision to prohibit discovery. Consequently, a remand of this case is necessary, and, on remand, the plaintiffs should be afforded the opportunity to attempt to establish through appropriate discovery the proper predicate for class certification. 59