Opinion ID: 685134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The 23(b)(2) Showing

Text: 65 The district court also found that the plaintiffs failed to make the requisite showing under Rule 23(b)(2), concluding that the claims for relief were not generally applicable to the class. Mem.Op. at 21. In so holding, the court failed to give effect to the proper role of (b)(2) class actions in remedying systemic violations of basic rights of large and often amorphous classes. While it is true that not all of the orders issued will immediately benefit every plaintiff, every plaintiff will benefit from relief designed to assure DHS compliance with the applicable standards. 66 Plaintiffs have alleged that systemic failure causes the DHS to violate various mandates under federal statutory and constitutional provisions. Because the children in the system are comparably subject to the injuries caused by this systemic failure, even if the extent of their individual injuries may be affected by their own individual circumstances, the challenge to the system constitutes a legal claim applicable to the class as a whole. An order forcing the DHS to comply with their statutory and constitutional mandates would constitute relief generally applicable to the entire putative class. Indeed, the violations alleged here are precisely the kinds targeted by Rule 23(b)(2). The writers of Rule 23 intended that subsection (b)(2) foster institutional reform by facilitating suits that challenge widespread rights violations of people who are individually unable to vindicate their own rights. See Rules Advisory Committee Notes to 1966 Amendments to Rule 23, 39 F.R.D. 102 (1966); 1 Newberg & Conte, Sec. 4.11 at 4-39. 67 The fact that the plaintiffs in this case seek only injunctive and declaratory relief, not individual damages, further enhances the appropriateness of the class treatment. Clearly, this action aims to define the relationship of the defendants to the universe of children with whose care the defendants are charged. Plaintiffs simply ask the district court to declare the DHS's current provision of child welfare services to the plaintiffs to be violative of the cited statutory and constitutional provisions and to order DHS to implement a system that would enable it to comply with its legal mandates in the provision of these services. Furthermore, all of the class members will benefit from relief which forces the defendant to provide, in the manner required by law, the services to which class members either are currently or at some future point will become entitled. 68 While it is true that commonality, typicality, and the Rule 23(b)(2) general applicability requirements all manifest a concern about judicial efficiency and manageability, the district court's arguments on this score miss the mark. The district court clearly erred by finding that [i]t would be impossible to conceive of an Order this court could make granting class-wide injunctive relief which could address the specific case-by-case deficiencies in DHS's performance.... Mem.Op. 10/13/93 at 4-5. But a court could, for example, order the DHS to develop training protocols for its prospective foster parents. Such an order would not, contrary to the district court's view, create an enforcement problem of staggering proportions. Id. The district court will thus not need to make individual, case-by-case determinations in order to assess liability or order relief. Rather, the court can fashion precise orders to address specific, system-wide deficiencies and then monitor compliance relative to those orders. 69 Other courts have ordered the relief required by these types of cases without finding it to be either unworkable or unenforceable. For example, in L.J. v. Massinga, 699 F.Supp. 508, 510 (D.Md.1988), the court approved a consent decree essentially embodying the terms of the preliminary injunction it had previously issued and implemented. The decree required the defendant to review the status of each foster home where there had been a report of maltreatment; visit each child in a foster home on a monthly basis; visit each child who had been the subject of a report of maltreatment on a weekly basis; assure sufficient staff and resources to ensure that appropriate medical care was rendered; and provide a written copy of any complaint of maltreatment of a foster child to the juvenile court and the child's attorney. This is precisely the sort of order that is requested in this case. Because this suit challenges conduct generally applicable to the class and because the court can enter appropriate declaratory and injunctive relief, this action patently satisfies the (b)(2) standard.