Roberts v. C.R. Eng., Inc.
Roberts v. C.R. Eng., Inc.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiffs Charles Roberts and Kenneth McKay bring this class action on behalf of themselves and other truck drivers. They assert claims against two affiliated trucking companies, C.R. England, Inc. and Opportunity Leasing, Inc. Plaintiffs claim Defendants fraudulently induced thousands of individuals to enroll in C.R. England's driver training schools, then fed students misinformation to convince them to lease trucks and become independent contractor lease operators.
On January 31, 2017, the court certified a nationwide class of independent contractor lease operators who meet certain qualifications, for claims of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and unjust enrichment, and for claimed violations of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act (UCSPA), Utah Business Opportunity Disclosure Act (UBODA), and Utah Truth in Advertising Act (UTIAA).
On April 26, 2017, Defendants filed a Motion to Alter or Amend [the] Class Certification Order.
I. Notice Requirement
Under the UCSPA, class action claims are subject to an opt-in notice requirement. Defendants argue this requirement applies not only to Plaintiffs' UCSPA claims, but to all of Plaintiffs' claims under Utah statutory and common law. However, Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure calls for opt-out notice in federal class action claims. As a federal court sitting in diversity jurisdiction, the court must determine whether Federal Rule 23 or the opt-in provision of the UCSPA controls.
A. Shady Grove
A Supreme Court decision, Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Company , provides the controlling authority for determining whether Federal Rule 23 or the UCSPA opt-in requirement applies in this case.
Five justices held that Rule 23, not the state law restriction, applied.
*1255Shady Grove reiterates the "familiar" two-step framework that applies when a federal rule and a state law both seemingly govern.
If there is a direct conflict, the federal rule applies as long as it represents a valid exercise of Congress's rulemaking authority under the Rules Enabling Act (REA).
Justice Scalia, writing for the plurality in Shady Grove , read this REA limitation to require only that a federal rule "really regulate procedure."
Justice Stevens concurred in the result but advanced a different approach. Under his reading of the REA, a federal rule is invalid if its application in a case would effectively abridge, enlarge, or modify a state-created right or remedy.
Even while narrowing the scope of instances in which a federal rule preempts state law, however, Justice Stevens cautioned that the bar for finding an REA violation is still "a high one." There must *1256be "little doubt" that application of the federal rule would alter a state-created substantive right.
Based on his "plain textual reading" of the statute before the Court, Justice Stevens concluded that New York's prohibition on class actions for statutory penalties did not clear this high bar. The law reflected "a policy judgment about which lawsuits should proceed in New York courts in a class form," not a rule "intimately bound up in the scope of a substantive right or remedy."
At least in the Tenth Circuit, where Justice Stevens's concurring opinion controls, the correct analysis when a federal rule and a state law both seemingly apply is this: first, the court determines whether there is a direct conflict between the two provisions. If so, the federal rule controls unless its application would violate the REA by altering a state-created substantive right. This inquiry looks not to the form of the state law, but to its plain language to determine whether it operates to "define[ ] the dimensions of a claim itself."
B. Application of Shady Grove 's Two-Step Analysis
Returning to the instant case, at step one, Rule 23 and the UCSPA are in direct conflict.
*1257The analysis at step two is more nuanced. Under Justice Stevens's controlling Shady Grove concurrence, Rule 23's opt-out provision applies to Plaintiffs' claims unless the UCSPA opt-in provision "function[s] as part of [Utah's] definition of substantive rights and remedies."
By requiring potential class members to affirmatively opt in to a class action brought under the UCSPA, Section 13-11-20(4) is likely to limit class size. But while the opt-in notice requirement may affect litigation outcomes, that does not mean it "defines the dimensions of [the] claim itself."
As in Shady Grove , the UCSPA's legislative history does not compel a different result. When evaluating legislative history in this context, Justice Stevens distinguished between "procedural rules adopted for some policy reason and seemingly procedural rules that are intimately bound up in the scope of a substantive right or remedy."
Defendants highlight two statements made by legislators in 1973, indicating the UCSPA opt-in provision was to be a "major change in the concept of class action lawsuits,"
Of course, this case differs from Shady Grove in several ways. First, the two state law provisions are substantively distinct. The New York statute in Shady Grove prohibited class action suits for statutory penalties. The provision at issue here, in contrast, requires a plaintiff affirmatively request inclusion in order enforce her USCPA-created rights in a class action suit. The impact of the New York law touches more directly on a potential plaintiff's substantive rights than does an opt-in requirement. The former operates as a complete bar to class action certification, whereas the opt-in provision is better characterized as a hurdle-a change in the process class members must follow in order *1258to join in the suit.
Two other distinctions weigh in the opposite direction. First, the New York statute was one of general application found in the state procedural code, whereas the opt-in provision here is found within the text of the USCPA itself. Second, the New York statute "expressly and unambiguously" applied to claims brought under federal law or the laws of other states.
But neither distinction compels a different result than that reached in Shady Grove . The location of a law within state statutory codes can be useful in discerning the legislature's intent, but cannot in itself prove the law's procedural or substantive nature.
To the second point, the fact that the UCSPA opt-in provision does not "expressly and unambiguously" apply to claims under federal law and the laws of other states is not determinative. As an initial matter, it is not clear whether the opt-in provision applies only to claims under the UCSPA or extends more broadly to all related claims regardless of their source of law.
Two other district courts addressed similar conflicts and reached the opposite conclusion, finding application of Rule 23 over a state law opt-in provision would violate the REA.
Under Shady Grove , Plaintiffs' UCSPA claims are subject to an opt-out notice requirement under Rule 23. Therefore, Defendants' Motion to Alter or Amend [the] Class Certification Order is DENIED in part as to the notice required for Plaintiffs' UCSPA claims.
C. Plaintiffs' Non-UCSPA Claims
Defendants also seek to impose an opt-in requirement to Plaintiffs' other statutory and common law claims. Section 13-11-23 of the UCSPA states: "the remedies of this act are in addition to remedies otherwise available for the same conduct under state or local law, except that a class action relating to a transaction governed by this act may be brought only as prescribed by this act ."
II. Certification of Questions to the Utah Supreme Court
Defendants move to certify the following four questions to the Utah Supreme Court:
*12601. As a matter of state law, doUtah Code Ann. §§ 13-11-19 (2) and 13-11-23 of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act (UCSPA) mean that in a class action relating to a transaction governed by the UCSPA, class members cannot seek statutory or actual damages for violations of the Utah Business Opportunity Disclosure Act or the Utah Truth in Advertising Act?
2. As a matter of state law, doUtah Code Ann. §§ 13-11-20 (4)(a) and 13-11-23 of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act (UCSPA) mean that in a class action relating to a transaction governed by the UCSPA, the class notice as to claims for violations of the Utah Business Opportunity Disclosure Act and the Utah Truth in Advertising Act must advise class members that the court will exclude them from the class unless they request inclusion by a specific date?
3. Under the Utah Business Opportunity Disclosure Act, can information unrelated to selling or marketing services to third parties provided by a business to an independent contractor in order to help the independent contractor perform services for that same business qualify as "a sales program or marketing program" within the meaning ofUtah Code Ann. § 13-15-2 (1)(a)(iv) ?
4. Under the Utah Business Opportunity Disclosure Act, can payments from an independent contractor to a business for the purchase of goods or services pursuant to written agreements be considered "initial required consideration," when the written agreements specifically state that the independent contractor need not purchase the goods or services as a condition for earning income in the alleged assisted marketing plan?54
Utah Rule of Appellate Procedure 41(a) provides an avenue for federal courts to certify a question to the Utah Supreme Court when "the state of the law of Utah applicable to a proceeding before the certifying court is uncertain."
While there is some uncertainty involved in each of Defendants' proposed questions, restraint is appropriate in this case. Defendants' second question relating to the notice provision of the USCPA is discussed at length above. In conducting its analysis, the court found sufficient guidance and authority to decide this question under controlling federal authority. The parties fully briefed the issues, presented oral argument, and provided ample authority with which to conduct a thorough analysis. The court has not yet reached Defendants' first question relating to the statutory damages provision of the UCSPA, but is confident it will be similarly guided if or when it reaches that issue.
*1261The court also declines to certify Defendants' third and fourth questions, concerning construction of the UBODA. These issues were addressed when Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Plaintiffs' UBODA claim was denied.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' Motion to Alter or Amend [the] Class Certification Order
Defendants' Motion to Certify Questions to the Utah Supreme Court
SO ORDERED this 21st day of March, 2018.
Dkt. 304 at 116.
Dkt. 304 at 114.
Dkt. 327.
Dkt. 327.
Dkt. 373 at 1.
Dkt. 314.
James River Ins. Co. v. Rapid Funding, LLC ,
See Lisk v. Lumber One Wood Preserving, LLC ,
Shady Grove ,
Shady Grove ,
Shady Grove ,
Id. at 408,
See, e.g.
In Shady Grove , a majority of the Court found Rule 23 and the New York provision directly conflicted. Both "attempt[ed] to answer the same question"-i.e. whether the plaintiff's suit for statutory interest could be maintained as a class action.
For a class certified under Rule 23(b)(3), notice must inform members "that the court will exclude from the class any member who requests exclusion." See also 3 Newberg on Class Actions § 9:48 (5th ed.) ("The [Rule 23 ] class action mechanism is an opt-out, not opt-in, procedure."). Indeed, "no court has ever certified an opt-in class under 23(b)(3), and courts have denied certification of classes for which plaintiffs request an opt-in provision."
Two district courts examined this issue in related contexts and also found a direct conflict. Driscoll v. George Washington Univ. ,
Shady Grove ,
Dkt. 374 Ex. B.
Dkt. 374 Ex. A.
Dkt. 327 at 31.
See Shady Grove ,
Cf. Kansas v. Hendricks ,
Shady Grove ,
Further, although the opt-in provision is part of the UCSPA, it is found in a section entitled "Class Actions," which provides procedural requirements for class certification and largely mirrors Rule 23. Thus, the provision's location within the statute could be said to support its procedural nature. See Shady Grove ,
See discussion of Section 13-11-23 in Part I.C, below. Defendants argue the UCSPA opt-in provision here extends to all of Plaintiffs' claims-both statutory and common law claims. Dkt. 427 at 15. It is not obvious that Defendants' reading of the UCSPA would not also extend the opt-in requirement to class action claims related to the same transactions at issue here, but arising under federal law or the laws of other states.
Shady Grove ,
Driscoll ,
Driscoll ,
Shady Grove ,
Dkt. 314 at 3.
Utah R. App. P. 41(a).
Copier by and Through Lindsey v. Smith & Wesson Corp. ,
Pino v. U.S. ,
The parties agree this question is premature at this stage. See Dkt. 373 at 1.
Dkt. 304. The court ruled adversely to Defendants on both points. See Dkt. 304 at 60-63 (considering whether Defendants made representations to bring them within UBODA's language of "sales program or marketing program," and finding a material issue of fact), and 58-59 (considering the element of "initial required consideration" in the UBODA, and finding a triable issue of fact as to whether C.R. England required drivers to pay initial consideration). In its Order, the court rejected Defendants' contention that the analysis should conform to the UBODA interpretation set forth in Rule 152-15-3, promulgated by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection. Dkt. 304 at 50 n.192. Defendants now argue the difference between the Order and Rule 152-15-3 "highlights the significance of certifying this issue here and now." Dkt. 314 at 14. That argument is not well taken. As Plaintiffs note, Dkt. 320 at 17 n.13, the court was aware of the Rule when it decided Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, and declined to consider the Rule in part due to its analysis of Utah case law relating to the retroactive applicability of administrative regulations. Dkt. 304 at 50 n.192. That reasoning still holds.
Boyd Rosene & Assocs., v. Kansas Mun. Gas Agency ,
Boyd Rosene ,
Dkt. 327.
Dkt. 314.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Charles ROBERTS, an individual, and Kenneth McKay, an individual, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated v. C.R. ENGLAND, INC., a Utah corporation Opportunity Leasing, Inc., a Utah corporation and Horizon Truck Sales and Leasing, LLC, a Utah Limited Liability Corporation
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published