Tag Archives: Ascertainability

Carter v. The Dial Corporation: The First Circuit Washes Its Hands of Clarifying Ascertainability in Class Actions

By Bill DeVinney on August 15, 2017 Posted in Class Certification

We previously wrote about the split among the circuit courts of appeal over the ascertainability requirement for class certification and whether self-identifying consumer affidavits—e.g., an affidavit in which a consumer attests that he or she is a class member and suffered injury—can satisfy that requirement. Recently, the First Circuit denied, over a strong dissent, a … Continue Reading

“Administrative Feasibility” Rejected in the Ninth Circuit

By Rand L. McClellan on January 9, 2017 Posted in Class Certification

On Jan. 3, in Briseno v. Conagra Foods, Inc., Case No. 15-55727, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 does not require class representatives to demonstrate that there is an “administratively feasible” means of identifying absent class members in order to certify a class. In rejecting the “administrative feasibility” … Continue Reading

District Court Adopts “Weak” Test of Ascertainability, Certifies Class of Corn Producers in Suit Against Syngenta over Commercialization of Genetically Modified Corn Seed Products

By David M. McMillan on October 10, 2016 Posted in Class Certification

A District Court in Kansas added to an increasing debate in the federal courts over class ascertainability when it certified a class of 440,000 U.S. corn producers in a suit against Swiss global agribusiness Syngenta AG (Syngenta) over the company’s commercialization of genetically modified corn seed products. In re: Syngenta Ag Mir 162 Corn Litig., … Continue Reading

Circuits Clash Over Ascertainability Standard

By Jacqueline Matthews on April 6, 2016 Posted in Class Certification

The Third and Seventh circuits have reached a sharp divide during the past year over the meaning of the implied “ascertainability” prerequisite to class certification. The Third Circuit affirmed a narrow version of ascertainability in Byrd v. Aaron’s Inc., 784 F.3d 154, 168 (3d Cir. 2015), but several months later the Seventh Circuit refused the … Continue Reading

The Ascertainability Requirement Claims Another Class. A Growing Trend?

By Patrick T. Lewis and Jonathon Korinko on December 27, 2013 Posted in Advertising Class Action, Class Certification, Class Definition

A new case, Hernandez v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., No. CV 12-5543 DSF JCX, 2013 WL 6332002 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 2, 2013), highlights challenges plaintiffs face in certifying classes where membership in the class is difficult or impossible to ascertain based on the defendant’s records. In Hernandez, the plaintiff sought to certify a class of … Continue Reading