Opinion ID: 1927351
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Criteria for Allowance of a Class Action Here Met

Text: Under the circumstances here shown, the values above set forth clearly favor allowance of a class action. The pragmatic criteria suggested by Stevens for the determination of the common character of the rights asserted for the class, 309 So.2d 150-51, [3] predominantly indicate that the class action is superior to other procedural methods available for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy, since the class action is otherwise appropriate because of the numerous members of the class and because of the adequate representation assured by the plaintiffs instituting this class action. The plaintiffs allege that approximately 600 prisoners sustained similar if not identical attacks of food poisoning arising from a single tortious incident. Similar if not identical damages, small in nature, were sustained by each. The evidence as to the tort itself must be identical for each claim. The medical evidence in most if not all of the claims will be founded in the same source, the prison infirmary and medical records. Based on these circumstances, we find the class action allowable. The criteria we deem decisive include: (1) Six hundred separate suits involve the danger of inconsistent determinations and of earlier separate adjudications with prejudicial effect upon subsequent separate litigation. See criteria 1(A), Stevens at 309 So.2d 151. Further, the interested parties appear to be so numerous that the courts would be unduly burdened by their separate suits or by their joinder or intervention by formal pleadings in non-class actions separately brought. (2) The poverty and isolation of the prisoners, and the small amount of each individual's claim, pose a serious threat to the loss of individual substantive rights if the class action is not allowed. See Stevens criteria 1(B). (3) The defendants resist liability for reasons generally applicable to the entire class. See Stevens criteria 2. (4) The questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members. See Stevens criteria 3. The plaintiffs allege that the entire class is similarly situated, and the defendant does not raise any special defenses against some members of the class which are not raised against others. In fact, the nature of this case suggests that such individual defenses as contributory negligence and assumption of the risk are wholly inapplicable. Not only do common questions predominate, there simply are no competing individual issues of law raised by the pleadings. Further (see also discussion of Mass Torts below), as we noted in Stevens, that different recoveries are sought, based upon the same factual transaction and same legal relationship, was not intended to defeat a class action. 309 So.2d 149. (5) The class action is the most appropriate procedural vehicle to process this dispute fairly and efficiently, not only because of the above factors, but also by reason of the following procedural factors: (a) Due to the smallness of the recovery allowable to each plaintiff, as well as because of the difficulty of the inmates' otherwise securing legal representation, no substantial interest adverse to allowing a class action exists in favor of individual control by members of the class of separate action. See Stevens criteria 3A. (b) The extent and nature of litigation already commenced by others concerning the controversy is not sufficient to indicate that allowance of a class action will defeat the purpose of the remedy to promote judicial economy and reduce the possibility of multiple litigation. See Stevens criteria 3B. In general, the lower the number of additional suits filed, the more useful is the class action. Here, although more than 600 inmates were allegedly affected by the contaminated food, only ten have filed suit in their individual behalf. A substantial number, if not all, of the remaining members are apparently content to have these representatives prosecute their claims. [4] Hence, the class action device is highly useful here; in one action, the court can process the claims of all but about 1.5% of the persons involved. (c) The desirability or not of concentrating the litigation of the claims in the particular forum of the class action does not, under these circumstances, present a factor of substantial weight in determining whether or not to allow a class action. See Stevens criteria 3C. The ten individual suits were likewise instituted in the same judicial district. (They, of course, may be consolidated for trial with the present. La. C.Civ.P. art. 1561.) (d) The lack of difficulty to be encountered in managing the present litigation as a class action is clearly suggestive of allowing it in this case. See Stevens criteria 3D. The location of virtually all the witnesses and members of the class in the same vicinity, as well as the identity of the issue of liability in all claims, will facilitate a prompt, efficient, and relatively inexpensive single trial on this central issue of the litigation. Due to presence of virtually all members of the class in the same vicinity, minimal problems will be encountered in assuring reasonable notice of incidental episodes in the litigation, as well as in distributing any recovery, if awarded. As compared with other class actions, the present one seems extraordinarily manageable.