Court Opinion

ID: 9660136
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:06:14.000566+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:15.923536
License: Public Domain

CHEHARDY, J.
dissents with reasons.
hi disagree with the majority opinion in this matter on three main points. First, it appears that the Plaintiffs impermissibly expanded their pleadings during the certification hearing. In their amended petition, Plaintiffs sought to certify a class of “all persons who purchased motor vehicles from [Lamarque Ford] and who were entitled to a rebate, but did not receive the rebate, and received no credit for the rebate.” At the hearing on the matter, however, Plaintiffs sought to certify a class that included “people who purchased a vehicle from Lamarque Ford from 1998 through the present, who were entitled to a rebate, whose purchase documents do not disclose that they received the rebate.” In my view, these two groups represent significantly different classes of individuals, which expanded the class.
Moreover, Plaintiffs should not have been allowed to redefine the class without amending their pleadings. Furthermore, the impermissible expansion does little to cure the original problems in Plaintiffs’ quest for class certification. In fact, the expanded class appears to exacerbate the already problematic issues of commonality and typicality.
My second concern is that commonality cannot be established in this case because each separate claim will be grounded in very disparate questions of fact about the negotiation process between the parties and Lamarque, and how the claimant was credited for any rebate to which they may have been entitled. Plaintiffs’ class representative could not give details after reviewing other putative class members’ transaction documents that would indicate whether or not 12prospective purchasers were informed of the existence of rebates, if they were given the benefit of those rebates through some type of credit, or if Lamarque converted any undisclosed rebates. In sum, the class representative’s claim will not be common to those of other members of the class because the specific negotiation that led to each transaction will not be common.
*1168Finally, in my view, the Plaintiffs cannot prove typicality because the class of claims are not grounded in any similar event. Each claim will, in fact, be subject to a mini trial, and the purpose of class certification will be thwarted. For these reasons, I would reverse the judgment of the trial court, and remand the case for further proceedings.