Court Opinion

ID: 9483896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:34:49.604039+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:54.164018
License: Public Domain

SENTELLE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I do not share my colleagues’ view that a class representative is deprived of standing *1094to seek review of a court’s approval of the class action settlement by the separate adjudication of his individual claim. That view runs counter to holdings of sister circuits in analogous, though not exactly parallel, cases. In Roper v. Consurve, Inc., 578 F.2d 1106 (5th Cir.1978), for example, defendants paid the’ claims of class representatives. The District Court denied certification of the class. The representatives of the putative class appealed. In affirming their right to do so, the Fifth Circuit noted that “[b]y the very act of filing a class action, the class representatives assume responsibilities to the members of the class. They may not terminate their duties by taking satisfaction; a cease fire may not be pressed upon them by paying their claims.” Id. at 1110.
Likewise, the Third Circuit has adopted the “assumption that an individual plaintiff ... who prevails in the district court will have standing to appeal from the denial of class action treatment as a representative of the potential class.” Gelman v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 556 F.2d 699, 701 (3d Cir.1977). Similarly, in Horn v. Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 555 F.2d 270 (10th Cir.1977), the Tenth Circuit held that a named “plaintiff can represent the class notwithstanding the failure of his individual claim.” Id. at 276.
The Eighth Circuit also has held that an “[ajppellant’s failure to prevail on her own claim, while ordinarily an element to consider in the appellate review of a class action determination ... is not conclusive. It does not defeat her capacity to represent the class.” Donaldson v. Pillsbury Co., 554 F.2d 825, 831-32 n. 5 (8th Cir.1977).
I readily admit that each of the cases cited above may be distinguished from the present controversy in that each involved an interlocutory appeal taken at the denial of certification stage under Rule 23(c), rather than at the dismissal or compromise stage under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(e). I do not, however, believe that this distinction makes a cognizable difference. The Fifth Circuit’s observation concerning the responsibilities of the class representatives remains as valid at the end stage as at the filing. I therefore cannot join my colleagues’ conclusion that this appeal should be dismissed for want of standing.
I would note that in the end, this may make very little difference. While I conclude, unlike my colleagues, that we should reach the merits of the appellants’ case, I do not think they would be entitled to relief were we to do so. The mere fact that the class representative objects to a settlement does not of itself make that settlement either void or voidable. It is well established that “assent of named plaintiffs is riot a prerequisite to the approval of a settlement.” Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 576 F.2d 1157, 1216 (5th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1115, 99 S.Ct. 1020, 59 L.Ed.2d 74 (1979). Further, I note that our task in reviewing a District Court approval of a class action settlement is a limited one. “The initial decision to approve or reject a settlement proposal is committed to the sound discretion of the trial judge.” Officers for Justice v. Civil Service Comm’n, 688 F.2d 615, 625 (9th Cir.1982). In reviewing the District Court’s exercise of that discretion, “[w]e are not to substitute our notions of fairness for those of the District Judge and the parties to the agreement.” Id. at 626.
In the instant case, the members of the class had the notice required by law and the opportunity to be heard. An experienced district court judge exercised his informed discretion. Appellants’ exceptions generally ask us to substitute our own notions of fairness. Therefore, I think it unlikely that appellants would obtain relief even were this Court to explore the merits of their cause. Nonetheless, I dissent from my colleagues’ decision not to make that exploration.