Opinion ID: 1488519
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: relevant authority

Text: There is no dispute that Pa.R.C.P. 1702 establishes the requisites that must be met in order for a plaintiff class to be granted class certification. Pa.R.C.P. 1702, Prerequisites to a Class Action, provides as follows: One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all members in a class action only if (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable; (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class; (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class; (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately assert and protect the interests of the class under the criteria set forth in Rule 1709; and (5) a class action provides a fair and efficient method for adjudication of the controversy under the criteria set forth in Rule 1708. We shall discuss the above requisites in seriatim in the context of the case at bar. In addition to the relevant rules enacted by the Pennsylvania legislature and and cases interpreting them, and federal cases interpreting analogous federal rules, we find it necessary to carefully interpret the case of Sharkus v. Blue Cross of Philadelphia, 494 Pa. 336, 431 A.2d 883 (1981), as it is central to our analysis of the propriety of the denial of class certification in the instant case. All parties rely primarily on Sharkus to reach their respective conclusions in regard to certification. The lower court, reading Sharkus in a fashion consistent with that of appellees, denied certification stating that Sharkus was legally controlling, yet factually distinguishable from the instant case. We disagree. We believe that Sharkus is legally controlling, and factually similar to the instant appeal to an extent requiring the same result, i.e., a finding of typicality and commonality. In Sharkus, plaintiffs, who were medical insurance subscribers, brought a class action against the insurer, Blue Cross, and provider hospitals. Plaintiff's complaint alleged that the insurer, by retrospectively reviewing and refusing to pay the hospital expenses of subscribers hospitalized upon the recommendation of the provider's staff physician, breached the subscription agreements and its fiduciary duty to administer the health care program in such a way as to protect its subscribers from unknowingly submitting to uncovered hospitalization. In addition, plaintiffs alleged, the hospital breached its duty to ensure that plaintiff/subscribers' hospitalizations were medically necessary. The Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia entered an order dismissing plaintiffs' complaint on the grounds that it was not a proper class action and that the subscribers had failed to join certain indispensable parties as defendants. [4] The case was appealed to the Superior Court, which affirmed, and the subscribers appealed. On appeal, the Supreme Court held, inter alia, that: (1) class action relief was appropriate for those subscribers who were unfairly charged for their hospitalizations by their insurer's retroactive determination that hospitalizations were medically unnecessary.