Opinion ID: 391390
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Mootness Question

Text: 57 We now reach the decisive question behind the district court's dismissal of this action. As framed above, that issue is whether a purported but uncertified class action should be dismissed for mootness upon tender to the named plaintiffs of their personal claims, despite the existence of a timely filed and diligently pursued pending motion for class certification. We recognize, as did the district court, that a suit brought as a class action must as a general rule be dismissed for mootness when the personal claims of the named plaintiffs are satisfied and no class has properly been certified. At least in some cases, however, this general rule must yield when the district court is unable reasonably to rule on a motion for class certification before the individual claims of the named plaintiffs become moot. We conclude that this is one such case. When, as here, the plaintiffs have filed a timely motion for class certification and have diligently pursued it, the defendants should not be allowed to prevent consideration of that motion by tendering to the named plaintiffs their personal claims before the district court reasonably can be expected to rule on the issue. 58
59 Our analysis begins with Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975). Sosna, an Iowa resident who desired a divorce but had resided in Iowa for less than one year, brought a class action challenging an Iowa residency requirement that limited state-court divorce jurisdiction to persons who had resided in Iowa for at least one full year. The district court certified a class composed of all Iowa residents who had resided in Iowa for less than one year and who were barred by the state's residency requirement from procuring a desired divorce in state court. A three-judge district court upheld the Iowa statute and Sosna thereupon appealed to the Supreme Court. However, by this time Sosna had resided in Iowa for more than one year and had procured a divorce in another state; therefore, as the Supreme Court noticed sua sponte, Sosna's personal claim was moot. Still the Court did not dismiss the entire action, but instead ruled on the merits of the class' claims. 60 The Court's decision to reach the merits of the case despite the mootness of Sosna's individual claim seems to have rested on two separate theories. First, the Court explained that the unnamed members of the class certified by the district court presented justiciable claims independent of that asserted by the named plaintiff. Had the suit been brought only on Sosna's behalf, the Court would have dismissed it as moot; once a class was certified, however, the unnamed class members acquired a legal status separate from the interest asserted by (Sosna). 419 U.S. at 399, 95 S.Ct. at 557. In essence, the act of certification brought the unnamed members of the class before the court for Article III purposes; so long as their claims were justiciable, the mootness of the original named plaintiff's claim would not require dismissal. 61 Second, the Court explained that the controversy in Sosna was one of that narrow category of disputes that are saved from dismissal for mootness because they are capable of repetition, yet evading review. 12 Although Sosna herself could not reasonably be expected to face the same residency bar in the future, it was clear that the state would continue to enforce the residency requirement against unnamed members of the class Sosna sought to represent. 419 U.S. at 399-400, 95 S.Ct. at 557-58. And, because any litigation challenging the Iowa residency requirement at issue would surely outlive the one-year period of the requirement, no individual plaintiff (either named or unnamed) could retain a justiciable claim for the period necessary to see such a lawsuit to its conclusion. 419 U.S. at 400, 95 S.Ct. at 558. Therefore the underlying controversy would likely escape full review at the behest of any single challenger, that is, the controversy was capable of repetition, yet evading review. 419 U.S. at 401, 95 S.Ct. at 558. 62 The Court's holding in Sosna does not mean, however, that certification of a class with justiciable claims will in all cases save a lawsuit from dismissal for mootness. In order to satisfy the requirements of Article III, the named plaintiffs must have a justiciable case or controversy both at the time the complaint is filed and at the time the class is certified by the district court, and the case must present a live controversy at the time it is reviewed an appeal. 419 U.S. at 402, 95 S.Ct. at 558-59. In this way the holding in Sosna can be reconciled with the general rule relied upon by the district court in this case. According to that rule, a lawsuit brought as a class action must be dismissed for mootness when no class has yet been certified and the personal claims of all named plaintiffs become moot; under the Sosna holding, certification would have saved the case from dismissal by bringing the claims of the unnamed class members before the court, but only if certification had occurred while the named plaintiffs had justiciable claims, i. e., before the named plaintiffs' claims were rendered moot. In short, a lawsuit brought as a class action must present justiciable claims at each stage of the litigation; if the named plaintiffs' individual claims become moot before a class has been certified, no justiciable claims are at that point before the court and the case must as a general rule be dismissed for mootness. 63 Of course, justiciable claims may be made by either named or unnamed (class) plaintiffs; a suit that at the outset is justiciable because of the live claims of named plaintiffs may at a later stage be justiciable because of the live claims of the unnamed plaintiffs contained in a certified class. Still, however, the class that takes the place of named plaintiffs for Article III purposes must ordinarily do so while the named plaintiffs have justiciable claims; the Court's holding in Sosna does not contemplate the maintenance of a lawsuit that otherwise would be dismissed for mootness, solely for the purpose of establishing a class of unnamed plaintiffs with justiciable claims. As Sosna demonstrates, therefore, whether the mootness of all named plaintiffs' personal claims requires the dismissal of a suit brought as a class action largely depends on the timing of the class certification decision: certification saves the suit from dismissal only if it occurs prior to the satisfaction or expiration of the named plaintiffs' claims. 64
65 The Court recognized in Sosna that an approach which relies solely on the timing of the class certification decision may cause undue hardships in cases in which the named plaintiffs' individual claims become moot before the district court has a reasonable opportunity to certify a class; the Court suggested that in such cases the timing of actual certification may not be dispositive: 66 There may be cases in which the controversy involving the named plaintiffs is such that it becomes moot as to them before the district court can reasonably be expected to rule on a certification motion. In such instances, whether the certification can be said to relate back to the filing of the complaint may depend upon the circumstances of the particular case and especially the reality of the claim that otherwise the issue would evade review. 67 419 U.S. at 402 n.11, 95 S.Ct. at 559 n.11. This exception to the general rule relied upon by the district court in this case is typically designated as the relation back doctrine. When applicable, it allows the district court a reasonable opportunity to rule on a pending motion for class certification despite the intervening mootness of the named plaintiffs' individual claims. 13 68 The precise bounds of the relation back doctrine are unclear, for two very different interpretations of this passage from Sosna are possible. First, one might argue that the Court intended to allow certification to relate back to the filing of the complaint only in those cases in which the controversy is so transitory that no single named plaintiff could maintain a justiciable claim long enough to reach the class certification stage of the litigation. It is in such cases that Sosna's emphasis on the timing of certification works its greatest hardship; absent some exception to the general rule of Sosna, such transitory claims will never be certified, and absent certification the merits of the claims will never be reached. Controversies which are so transitory that no class can be certified before the claims of all original plaintiffs become moot are in effect capable of repetition, yet evading review, and we note that the Court emphasized the importance of the reality that otherwise the issue would evade review in its brief discussion of the relation back doctrine. The Supreme Court has on two occasions applied the relation back doctrine to avoid the dismissal for mootness of a class action; both cases, which are discussed in more detail below, fit within this narrow interpretation of the doctrine. See Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 95 S.Ct. 854, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975); Swisher v. Brady, 438 U.S. 204, 98 S.Ct. 2699, 57 L.Ed.2d 705 (1977). 69 However, a second interpretation arguably follows from cases subsequent to Sosna in which the Court has underplayed the importance of the capable of repetition, yet evading review doctrine in the class action context. On two occasions the Court has explained that while Sosna involved a controversy admittedly within this category, justiciability in that case was adequately established by the live claims of the unnamed members of the certified class i., e., on the basis of the first theory enunciated in Sosna. See United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty, supra, at 398 n.6; Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., 424 U.S. 747, 752-56, 96 S.Ct. 1251, 1258-60, 47 L.Ed.2d 444 (1976). As the Court explained in Franks : 70 Given a properly certified class action, Sosna contemplates that mootness turns on whether, in the specific circumstances of the given case at the time it is before this Court, (there exists) an adversary relationship sufficient to (assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues). In this case, that adversary relationship obviously obtained as to unnamed class members (all black applicants for employment with defendant who were denied such employment) .... 71 424 U.S. at 755-56, 96 S.Ct. at 1260. Since, as these cases indicate, the proper focus of a mootness inquiry in the class action context is on the adversary relationship, and since an adversary relationship sufficient for Article III purposes can arise by virtue of the unnamed class members' justiciable claims whether or not such claims are capable of repetition, yet evading review, one might argue that the relation back doctrine is applicable whether or not the controversy is so transitory that no single named plaintiff could maintain a justiciable claim long enough to reach the class certification stage of the litigation. So long as the claims of the unnamed class members are presented in an adversary relationship sufficient to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues, this broader reading of the relation back doctrine would allow the district court a reasonable time to rule on the certification question despite the intervening mootness of the named plaintiffs' claims. In essence, the claims of the unnamed class members would in all such cases be brought before the court for Article III purposes at least for such a provisional period of time as the court reasonably would require to consider certification. This provisional Article III status would not depend on a finding that the controversy was so transitory that absent the doctrine no class could ever be certified, but would instead be available whenever the suit presented an adversary relationship sufficient to meet the requirements of Article III. Cf. Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper, supra, 445 U.S. at 342, 100 S.Ct. at 1175-76 (Stevens, J., concurring) (arguing that a proper class action complaint should in all cases bring the members of the absent class before the court for Article III purposes until a final determination has been made that the class may not be certified). 72
73 In this case we need not consider whether or to what extent a broader reading of Sosna's relation back doctrine should be accepted. 14 The answer in the case now before us follows even from the narrower interpretation of that doctrine, that is, from its application to controversies so transitory that no single named plaintiff can maintain a justiciable claim long enough to reach the class certification stage of the litigation. 74 Shortly after the Supreme Court's decision in Sosna, the Court decided a case that precisely fit within the class of transitory controversies that concerns us today. In Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 95 S.Ct. 854, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975), a state prisoner brought a class action suit challenging the pretrial detention of persons held for trial under a prosecutor's information. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court, the named defendants had long since been convicted and were no longer in custody awaiting trial; therefore, in accordance with Sosna, the case had to be dismissed absent a properly certified class. The district court had indeed certified a class, but there was nothing in the record to indicate that the named plaintiffs were, as Sosna ordinarily would require, still in pretrial detention at the time the district court certified the class. However, the Court held that because of the transitory nature of the controversy, Sosna did not require that the named plaintiffs have justiciable claims at the time of certification: 75 Such a showing ordinarily would be required to avoid mootness under Sosna. But this case is a suitable exception to that requirement. The length of pretrial custody cannot be ascertained at the outset, and it may be ended at any time by release on recognizance, dismissal of the charges, or a guilty plea, as well as by acquittal or conviction after trial. It is by no means certain that any given individual, named as plaintiff, would be in pretrial custody long enough for a district judge to certify the class. 76 420 U.S. at 110-11 n.11, 95 S.Ct. at 861 n.11 (citations omitted). 77 The Supreme Court again applied the relation back doctrine in Swisher v. Brady, 438 U.S. 204, 98 S.Ct. 2699, 57 L.Ed.2d 705 (1977). Swisher was a class action brought by several minors who had cases pending in a Maryland juvenile court; the suit challenged under the Double Jeopardy Clause a Maryland procedural rule which allowed the state to file exceptions to findings made by masters of the juvenile court. Before the class had been certified by the district court, the individual claims of all named plaintiffs had been rendered moot because the state had either withdrawn its exceptions or completed the adjudicatory process in each case. Noting the apparent mootness problem sua sponte, the Supreme Court approved the district court's certification of the class by applying the relation back doctrine of Sosna. The doctrine was applicable, according to the Court, because of the rapidity of judicial review of exceptions to masters' proposals, which created mootness questions before the district court reasonably could be expected to rule on certification. As the Court noted, the rapid judicial review of exceptions created mootness problems not only with respect to the named plaintiffs, but even perhaps with respect to a series of intervening plaintiffs appearing thereafter. 438 U.S. at 213-14 n.11, 98 S.Ct. at 2705 n.11. 78 One might argue that the narrower reading of the relation back doctrine does not fit the facts of this case, for Gerstein and Swisher the only cases in which the Supreme Court has applied this doctrine rest on the transitory nature of the plaintiffs' substantive claims. Gerstein's claim as to the state's use of pretrial detention was bound to expire when he was either released or convicted; given the ordinarily brief period of a claim based on pretrial detention, Gerstein's or any other individual prisoner's claim was almost certain to become moot before a class could be certified. Likewise, the named plaintiffs' double jeopardy claims in Swisher expired upon the termination of the relatively brief juvenile proceeding they sought to challenge. Mootness in both cases followed from the nature of the claim; where a plaintiff seeks to challenge a form of confinement or proceeding which is ordinarily brief, his substantive claim must necessarily expire in a short period of time. This case, by contrast, does not involve claims which by their nature are transitory, for the named plaintiffs' claims for damages under the federal securities acts did not expire with the mere passage of time. Instead, the plaintiffs' claims have been rendered moot by purposive action of the defendants in particular, by the defendants' full tender of the plaintiff's individual claims. In short, the claims asserted in Gerstein and Swisher naturally and inevitably expired, while Zeidman's and Youngelson's claims were satisfied by act of the defendants. 79 This distinction is arguably a significant one. Because of the natural expiration of the claims asserted in Gerstein and Swisher, it was doubtful in those cases that any plaintiff could have retained a justiciable claim long enough to reach the certification stage of the litigation. Whether any plaintiff in Zeidman's and Youngelson's class could reach that stage is, however, by no means as certain. While the defendants tendered these named plaintiffs' claims, they are not bound to do so in the future; it is at least conceivable, therefore, that the defendants will tire of this tactic (or run out of funds) and allow some subsequent plaintiff to procure a ruling on class certification. 80 However, while we recognize that the named plaintiffs in this case have not presented claims which by their nature are so transitory that no single named plaintiff with such a claim could maintain a justiciable case long enough to procure a decision on class certification, we believe that the result should be no different when the defendants have the ability by tender to each named plaintiff effectively to prevent any plaintiff in the class from procuring a decision on class certification. By tendering to the named plaintiffs the full amount of their personal claims each time suit is brought as a class action, the defendants can in each successive case moot the named plaintiffs' claims before a decision on certification is reached. A series of individual suits, each brought by a new named plaintiff, could individually be picked off before class certification; as a practical matter, therefore, a decision on class certification could, by tender to successive named plaintiffs, be made just as difficult to procure in a case like the one now before us as it was in Gerstein and Swisher. Cf. Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper, supra, 445 U.S. at 341, 100 S.Ct. at 1175 (Rehnquist, J., concurring) (suggesting that Roper in which defendants had tendered the named plaintiffs' individual claims fits within a 'narrow class of cases' where a contrary rule would lead to the 'reality' that 'otherwise the issue would evade review' ). 81 We recognize, of course, that this tactic would not work for all defendants in all suits brought as class actions. Often there would be too many named plaintiffs, or the individual claim of each would be too great, to make such a tactic financially feasible. But the difficulty inherent in any use of this tactic does not make it acceptable. The fact remains that in those cases in which it is financially feasible to pay off successive named plaintiffs, the defendants would have the option to preclude a viable class action from ever reaching the certification stage. This result is precisely what the relation back doctrine of Sosna, Gerstein and Swisher condemns, and we see no difference when it is caused by the defendant's purposive acts rather than by the naturally transitory nature of the controversy. 82 We find support for our conclusion in the decisions of several other circuits. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has in fact reached the precise question now before us. In Susman v. Lincoln American Corp., 587 F.2d 866 (7th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 942, 100 S.Ct. 1336, 63 L.Ed.2d 775 (1980), plaintiffs who sought damages for securities violations had filed a suit as a class action and timely moved for certification; while the motion was pending, the defendants tendered to the named plaintiffs the full amount of their personal claims and moved to dismiss the entire action for mootness. The district court dismissed the action, but the court of appeals reversed. The court of appeals recognized that ordinarily a suit brought as a class action must be dismissed for mootness when the claims of all named plaintiffs become moot and no class has yet been certified. The court also recognized that Sosna's relation back exception had not been applied by the Court in the context of mootness caused by the defendants' tender, but had instead been applied when the nature of the complaint was such that the mere passage of time would usually make the individual plaintiffs' complaint moot. 587 F.2d at 870. Still the court held that the action could not be dismissed for mootness before the plaintiffs' pending motion for class certification was heard. The court explained:(J)ust as necessity required the development of the relation back doctrine in cases where the underlying factual situation naturally changes so rapidly that the courts cannot keep up, so necessity compels a similar result here. If the class action device is to work, the courts must have a reasonable opportunity to consider and decide a motion for certification. If a tender made to the individual plaintiff while the motion for certification is pending could prevent courts from ever reaching the class action issues, that opportunity is at the mercy of a defendant, even in cases where a class action would be most clearly appropriate. 83 Id. 84 Although no other circuit appears to have considered the effect of a defendant's tender on a pending motion for class certification, several courts have considered the effect of a defendant governmental agency's voluntary performance of a specific action demanded in the lawsuit. In each of these cases the court has held that the defendant could not prevent a decision on the plaintiff's motion for certification by rendering the individual plaintiff's demand for injunctive relief moot before the court had reasonably been able to consider the motion. See DeBrown v. Trainor, 598 F.2d 1069, 1072 (7th Cir. 1979) (eligibility for food stamps restored by defendant state welfare agency); White v. Mathews, 559 F.2d 852, 857 (2d Cir. 1977) (administrative hearing and decision granted by defendant Department of Health, Education and Welfare); Basel v. Knebel, 551 F.2d 395, 397 n.1 (D.C.Cir.1977) (eligibility for food stamps restored by defendant state agency). Cf. Frost v. Weinberger, 515 F.2d 57, 63-64 (2d Cir. 1975) (summary judgment in plaintiffs' favor, in suit challenging denial of Social Security survivors' benefits, rendered before class was properly certified). Although these cases do not raise precisely the same issue as that faced in this case and in Susman, the same concern underlies them. As the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit explained in Mathews, refusal to certify the class would mean that the (agency) could avoid judicial scrutiny of its procedures by the simple expedient of granting hearings to plaintiffs who seek, but have not yet obtained, class certification. 559 F.2d at 857. 85 We conclude that a suit brought as a class action should not be dismissed for mootness upon tender to the named plaintiffs of their personal claims, at least when, as here, there is pending before the district court a timely filed and diligently pursued motion for class certification. Because this case need not be dismissed for mootness, and because the named plaintiffs are adequate class representatives under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(4) at least for the limited purpose of urging their pending motion for class certification, the district court should now proceed to a decision on that motion. If the court grants the motion and certifies the plaintiffs' purported classes, the court should then consider whether under Rule 23(a)(4) Zeidman and Youngelson may urge the merits of the classes' claims or whether, instead of these named plaintiffs, another representative would be appropriate. See Part IV-A-3 of this opinion, supra. We reverse the judgment of the district court and remand this case to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion. 86 REVERSED and REMANDED.