In re Wilmington Trust Securities Litigation
In re Wilmington Trust Securities Litigation
Opinion of the Court
At Wilmington this 3rd day of September, 2015, having reviewed lead plaintiffs’ motion for class certification (D.I. 259), and the papers filed in connection therewith; the court issues its decision based on the following reasoning:
1. Background. By an order dated March 7, 2011, the court consolidated a series of securities fraud class action lawsuits filed against the Wilmington Trust Corporation (“WTC”) and related defendants. (D.I. 26) A consolidated class action complaint was filed on May 16, 2011. (D.I. 39) On June 13, 2013, plaintiffs filed a fourth amended complaint (“FAC”).
2. Standard. A district court has broad discretion to grant or deny class certification. See Eisenberg v. Gagnon, 766 F.2d 770, 785 (3d Cir. 1985). The court does not inquire into the merits of a lawsuit when determining whether it may be maintained as a class action. See Eisen v. Carlisle and Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 177, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974). However, the court must conduct a limited preliminary inquiry, examining beyond the pleadings, to determine whether common evidence could suffice to make out a prima facie case for the class. See General Tel. Co. of Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 160, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982) (“[T]he class determination generally involves considerations that are enmeshed in the factual and legal issues comprising the plaintiffs cause of action.”) (internal citation omitted); Newton v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 259 F.3d 154, 167 (3d Cir. 2001) (“[C]ourts may delve beyond the pleadings to determine whether the requirements for class certification are satisfied.”).
3. The party seeking class certification bears the burden of establishing that certification is warranted under the circumstances. Carrera v. Bayer Corp., 727 F.3d 300, 306 (3d Cir. 2013). Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure sets forth the requirements for certification of a class. Under Rule 23(a), these requirements are: (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable (“numerosity”); (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class (“commonality”); (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class (“typicality”); and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. See Warfarin Sodium Antitrust Litig., 391 F.3d 516, 527 (3d Cir. 2004). Plaintiffs bear the burden to “establish that all four requisites of Rule 23(a) and at least one part of Rule 23(b) are met.” Baby Neal v. Casey, 43 F.3d 48, 55 (3d Cir. 1994).
5. Defendants argue that plaintiffs have not satisfied the predominance requirement of Rule 23(b)(3),
the Supreme Court specifically noted that it was not breaking any new ground by stating at the beginning of its opinion: “This case thus turns on the straightforward application of class-certification principles.” Comcast, 133 S.Ct. at 1433. A close reading of the text above makes it clear that the predominance analysis was specific to the antitrust claim at issue. That is eminently sensible. Every question of class certification will depend on the nature of the claims and evidence presented by the plaintiffs. What we know for sure is that whatever “Comcast’s ramifications for antitrust damages models or proving antitrust impact,” a trial court must “ ‘consider carefully all relevant evidence and make a definitive determination that the requirements of Rule 23 have been met before certifying a class.’ ” In re Blood Reagents Antitrust Litig., 783 F.3d 183, 186-87 (3d Cir. 2015) (quoting [In re Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litig., 552 F.3d 305, 320 (3d Cir. 2008)].
Id. at 374. Applying Neale to a putativé securities action, the District Court of New Jersey stated that
Comcast was an antitrust case in which there was only one viable theory of antitrust impact and the plaintiffs’ damages model did not measure damages in accordance with that theory. [133 S.Ct.] at 1433. Based on the particular facts of that case, issues common to the proposed class would have been overwhelmed by individual damage calculations. See id. The Court therefore required an inquiry into the merits of the plaintiffs’ damages model at the class certification stage. See id. at 1432-35. The case did not stand for the general proposition that in all class actions, a plaintiff must prove that damages are calculable on*246 a class-wide basis before class certification can be granted.
City of Sterling Heights Gen. Employees’ Ret. Sys. v. Prudential Fin., Inc., Civ. No. 12-5275, 2015 WL 5097883, at *13 (D.N.J. Aug. 31, 2015).
6. In the ease at bar, defendants contend that under Comcast, plaintiffs must show that damages can be calculated on a class-wide rather than individual basis.
7. Conclusion. For the aforementioned reasons, lead plaintiffs’ motion for certification (D.I. 259) is granted. An order shall issue.
. On March 29, 2012, the court granted defendants’ motions to dismiss the complaint without prejudice. (D.I. 85, D.I. 86) Plaintiffs filed a second and third amended complaint on May 10, 2012 and January 9, 2013. (D.I. 88; D.I. 120)
. Plaintiffs adequately alleged the numerosity, commonality and typicality prerequisites of Rule 23(a), which defendants did not challenge. The court does not address defendants’ arguments (presented in briefing) regarding the adequacy of plaintiffs as class representatives as defendants did not respond to such arguments at the hearing, effectively conceding their position.
. Volvo relied on Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, - U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 1426, 185 L.Ed.2d 515 (2013), for the proposition that plaintiffs must show that ‘ "damages are susceptible of measurement across the entire class for purposes of Rule 23(b)(3).” ’ Neale v. Volvo Cars of N. Am., LLC, 794 F.3d 353, 374.
. Defendants argue "[pllaintiffs have not even attempted to explain, in even the most general terms, what methodology could possibly be applied to determine damages for the putative class on a class-wide basis — a task that is particularly difficult where, as Plaintiffs claim here, Wilmington Trust made misrepresentations with varying degrees of falsity on 26 separate dates over two years." (D.I. 347 at 8)
Reference
- Full Case Name
- IN RE WILMINGTON TRUST SECURITIES LITIGATION
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published