Opinion ID: 175339
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claims Under Review

Text: At the outset, we must confront the question of which complaint is under review in this appeal. As noted above, this multi-district litigation (MDL) case consists of nineteen class action cases, each of which began with its own complaint and case number. The district court ordered the class plaintiffs' lead counsel to file a consolidated complaint. On July 18, 2008, the class plaintiffs filed the CCC. On October 17, 2008, the appellees moved to strike the CCC, arguing the CCC included new claims and otherwise materially amended the complaints in the underlying cases, rather than simply consolidating them as ordered. That same day, Aurora, the retailers, and QAI each separately moved to dismiss the case, attacking the allegations in the CCC. The class plaintiffs later moved for leave to amend the CCC on December 8, 2008. The district court granted Aurora's, the retailers', and QAI's motions to dismiss and denied the motions to strike and to amend the CCC as moot. The district court stated: Because the Court finds that the basis for all of [the class p]laintiffs' claims is preempted, the Court will not address [the motions to strike and to amend]. The Court lists these causes of action from the [CCC], because it is the Complaint to which the Motions to Dismiss are directed. This does not indicate that [the class p]laintiffs' alteration of the claims and parties in this action have been approved or accepted by the Court. Aurora and the retailers argue the CCC is therefore not operative and the nineteen original class action complaints in the underlying cases are the only complaints properly before this court. In effect, Aurora and the retailers ask this court to resolve their motion to strike and the class plaintiffs' motion to amend before reviewing the district court's judgment. [2] The district court explicitly granted the motions to dismiss at issue in this appeal based on the allegations in the CCC, not the complaints in the underlying actions. The district court may not have approved or accepted the CCC, but it did base its rulings for the motions to dismiss on the CCC. And it is those rulings that are before us today. Because the district court ruled on the motions to dismiss based upon the CCC, and because the motions to strike and to amend were denied as moot and no party appealed those denials, the only complaint relevant to this appeal is the CCC. [I]t has long been the general rule `that a federal appellate court does not consider an issue not passed upon below.' Al-Zubaidy v. TEK Indus., Inc., 406 F.3d 1030, 1037 (8th Cir.2005) (quoting Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 120, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976)). We see no reason to create an exception to this rule where, as here, any prejudice to the appellees was caused by their own failure to file an appeal.