Opinion ID: 781700
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Certified Plaintiff Classes

Text: 30 Defendants challenge the district court's certification of eight plaintiff classes, contending that the named plaintiffs are not adequate class representatives as required by Rule 23(a)(4), because their litigation goals conflict with the interests of some class members, and that the certified classes do not meet the numerosity requirements of Rule 23(a)(1). See Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(1), (4). 31 The classes comprised of agency feepayers in the Dinuba, Franklin McKinley, and Chino teachers' associations contain only seven, nine, and ten members, respectively. The Supreme Court has held fifteen is too small. General Tel. Co. v. EEOC, 446 U.S. 318, 330, 100 S.Ct. 1698, 64 L.Ed.2d 319 (1980). The certification of those classes must be vacated on numerosity grounds. The defendants acknowledge that the classes comprised of agency feepayers in the Yuba City, Saddleback Valley, and South San Francisco districts present a closer question because the members exceed sixty, and the defendants never presented any reason to the district court why they did not meet the numerosity requirement. The plaintiffs point out that the small amounts involved in the individual claims and judicial economy can be considered. Here the plaintiffs seek only prospective relief and so the interests of judicial economy are served by the certifications. We have no basis on which to invalidate the remaining certifications on numerosity grounds. 32 The defendants abandoned their numerosity challenge in the district court, and we do not ordinarily consider on appeal issues not raised below. United States v. Stenberg, 803 F.2d 422, 431 (9th Cir.1986). In support of their adequacy argument, the defendants cite Gilpin v. Am. Fed'n. of State, County, & Mun. Employees, 875 F.2d 1310, 1313 (7th Cir.1989), where the Seventh Circuit found that plaintiffs who sought damage remedies from a union that allegedly failed to comply with Hudson could not be certified as a class because at least some class members were probably free rider[s] who wished to receive the services of a healthy union while paying as little as possible for them. No such concerns can be present here, where the plaintiffs seek only injunctive relief requiring the unions to comply with their constitutional duties as set forth in Hudson. We therefore do not need to decide whether we agree with the Seventh Circuit that free riders create a conflict of interest within a proposed class. The district court's plaintiff class certification must be affirmed. 33