Opinion ID: 330039
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Class and Injunctive Relief

Text: 63 Grants' final challenges relate to the issuance of an injunction and the propriety of class action status as to that injunction. The district court ordered: 64 That the defendant be and is hereby permanently enjoined from collecting any further payments under outstanding coupon contracts made in Connecticut, and from entering hereafter into any coupon contracts in Connecticut on which the annual percentage rate exceeds twelve per cent. 65 Grants argues that plaintiffs have not shown the irreparable damage and lack of an adequate remedy at law necessary to justify injunctive relief. It points to C.G.S.A. §§ 37-8, 36-243 as providing a legal defense in any action to recover on a loan on which greater than 12 per cent interest has been charged. 66 Rather than merely examining the technicalities of issuing an injunction, as Grants urges, we will look at the realities of the Connecticut situation. Equity decrees are to be applied flexibly to fit the needs of each situation. Hecht Co. v. Bowles, 321 U.S. 321, 329, 64 S.Ct. 587, 88 L.Ed. 754 (1944). Here we have a major retailer, a substantial portion of whose sales in fiscal 1971 were made under the coupon purchase plan, using a program which we have determined to be illegal in Connecticut. It is hard to believe that most purchasers of Grants' coupon books will avail themselves of the remedies under Connecticut law, 38 or even know of them or of this suit. A somewhat similar situation was presented in State v. J. C. Penney Co., 179 N.W.2d 641, 655-57 (Wis.Sup.Ct.1970). Defendant's credit plan had been determined to violate Wisconsin's usury law but the trial court refused to enjoin its operation. It apparently felt that the usury defense was a personal one. Id. at 655-56. The state supreme court ordered an injunction anyway, noting: 67 We take judicial notice of the widespread use of the revolving charge account and of the large number of Wisconsin citizens affected by these practices. We have no hesitancy in endorsing an injunction against the usurious practices which clearly constitute a public nuisance here and should be discontinued. 68 Id. at 657. We agree with this reasoning and believe the district court's injunction was properly entered. 39 69 Grants' second objection to the injunction lies in its application to the class of coupon plan contract holders. While admitting that notice is not required in a Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2) injunctive relief class action, Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 177 n. 14, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974); Lynch v. Household Finance Corp., 360 F.Supp. 720, 722 n. 3 (D.Conn.1973) (three-judge court), Grants claims that the relief here was not truly injunctive. Instead, it argues that ordering a defendant not to collect money from the class members is the same as ordering a defendant to pay damages. Thus, notice should be required here. 70 We do not agree. The district court was quite careful in fashioning its class remedy. For example, plaintiffs had asked for an injunction ordering Grants to return money allegedly collected unlawfully. This was refused on the grounds that such an award would in actuality be class-wide damages and thus unavailable without proper notice. The district court was correct in enjoining defendant's unlawful practices. Were we to accept Grants' argument that notice was required before an injunction could issue here, we would be allowing Grants to continue reaping the benefit of its illegal acts. By enjoining it from collecting on its usurious contracts, we are merely requiring it to stop violating the law. This is a far cry from an award of class-wide damages. 40 71 Judgment affirmed.