Opinion ID: 1895289
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Case Number 1921852 and Case Number 1930001

Text: These two petitions each arise from a pending, interlocutory class certification and proposed class action settlement now under consideration by the Barbour Circuit Court in the case of Charlie Frank Robertson, et al. v. Liberty National Life Insurance Company (the Barbour County case). A fairness hearing was scheduled in the Barbour County case for November 4, 1993, to allow those opposing the proposed settlement to be heard. Further, the trial court had indicated that during the course of the fairness hearing, it planned to determine whether certain requests by those opposing the settlement for leave to conduct additional discovery should be granted. The facts leading to these two petitions are as follows: On June 16, 1993, the Barbour County class and Liberty National reached a settlement; the proposed settlement was preliminarily approved by the Barbour Circuit Court. The Barbour Circuit Court ordered Liberty National to notify the class members of the settlement and of their right to appear and to object to the settlement. A fairness hearing was scheduled for November 4, 1993, to evaluate the fairness of a proposed settlement of this class action, which would affect the rights of approximately 380,000 members of a Rule 23(b)(2) mandatory, non-opt-out class composed of persons having cancer insurance with Liberty National. On April 30, 1993, Eunice Long, Theda S. Enfinger, and others (the intervenors) filed motions to intervene in the Barbour County action on their behalf and on the behalf of other plaintiffs in Mobile County who had not filed their claims in Mobile. They also sought discovery in a number of matters related to the propriety of the class certification and the fairness of the proposed settlement. The trial court conducted a hearing on the discovery requests on July 27, 1993. There is no transcript of this proceeding and no written order granting or denying the intervenors' discovery requests. In an affidavit, the Barbour Circuit Court responded that it had not denied any request for discovery but had simply deferred its ruling on these requests. The intervenors (who object to the proposed settlement) seek a writ of mandamus directing the Barbour Circuit Court to permit certain discovery, and they also moved for a stay of the November 4 fairness hearing until that discovery can be accomplished. However, the intervenors' request that this Court direct the Barbour Circuit Court to permit certain discovery is premature. In our original opinion of October 29, 1993, we agreed that the November 4, 1993, fairness hearing should be stayed until the Barbour Circuit Court had ruled on the pending discovery requests, and on October 29, 1993, we ordered the Barbour Circuit Court to stay that hearing. We do not mean to be understood as interfering with the trial court's power to manage its own case. Rather, we conclude only that a ruling on the intervenors' discovery request is necessary to allow the intervenors a meaningful opportunity to be heard at the fairness hearing. It is undeniable that the fairness hearing is intended to be a meaningful evaluation by the Barbour Circuit Court of the merits of the proposed settlement. The need for such an evaluation is especially acute in this case, given the fact that, pursuant to the proposed settlement, parties objecting to the settlement are not permitted to opt-out but are bound by the terms of the settlement. The petitions for the writ of mandamus in case number 1921852 and case number 1930001 requesting certain discovery are denied; this Court's October 29, 1993, stay of the fairness hearing is continued until the Barbour Circuit Court rules on the pending discovery requests.