Class Actions Brief Blog

It is often expedient for a defendant to make an offer of judgment in order to avoid the expense of lengthy proceedings, particularly when the plaintiff’s damages claim is small. But what happens when the offer of judgment is made to a class representative? Does that mean that the individual no longer has standing? And does it make any difference if the offer is made before or after the class certification motion is filed? Judge Currie grappled with these issues last week in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case, Chatham v. GC Services, LP, No. 3:14-cv-00526 (D.S.C. July 16, 2014), lamenting that “neither party [had] cite[d] to any Fourth Circuit or United States Supreme Court authority on this precise issue,” namely: “Do the presence of class allegations in the Complaint and the pendency of a motion for class certification . . . preclude the offer of judgment from rendering the Plaintiff’s class action moot?”

Although most circuits have rebuffed this defense tactic, there appears to be a bit of light in the Supreme Court’s decision in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, 133 S. Ct. 1523 (2013). But that was a Fair Labor Standards Act case, and rules for collective actions are different. In the end, Judge Currie aligned herself with the majority rule, finding that “an offer of judgment will not moot a named plaintiff’s claim if the offer is made while a motion to certify the class is pending.”

It remains to be seen whether or not the filing of the class certification motion is dispositive in this line of cases. If it is, you can expect to see in consumer class actions simultaneous filings of class certification motions with the complaint.