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VAN TASSEL v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.2021-04-14No. No. 20-35121

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the district court's denial of class certification, denial of the motion to amend the case schedule, and denial of the motions for reconsideration.

Plaintiffs sought to certify a class of Washington State insurance policyholders claiming that State Farm improperly denied or underpaid diminished value damages following vehicle accidents. The district court rejected the class certification request, though the plaintiffs succeeded on their individual breach-of-contract claims at trial. On appeal, plaintiffs challenged the denial of class certification, denial of a request to modify the litigation schedule, and denial of motions seeking reconsideration of those orders.

The appellate court found no abuse of discretion by the district court. Because State Farm evaluated each claim individually based on the documentation provided by each policyholder, the court determined that individual questions predominated over common ones—a requirement for class certification. This case-by-case assessment distinguished it from prior cases where insurers applied blanket exclusions or uniform formulas. The court also upheld the denial of the scheduling modification because plaintiffs did not demonstrate good cause for delay, and it upheld the denials of reconsideration because they simply repeated previously rejected arguments.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether individualized questions predominate over common questions in diminished value damage claims
  • Whether the district court abused its discretion in denying class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3)
  • Whether good cause existed to modify the litigation schedule

Procedural posture

Plaintiffs appealed from the district court's orders denying class certification, denying a motion to amend the case schedule, and denying motions for reconsideration, following a jury trial in which plaintiffs prevailed on individual breach-of-contract claims.

Authorities cited

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Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Plaintiffs-Appellants Charles Van Tassel and Jeremy Plank (“Plaintiffs”) sought to certify a class of State Farm insureds in the state of Washington, alleging that State Farm breached its contracts with the class members and violated state consumer-protection laws by failing to properly compensate class members for “diminished value” damages after auto accidents. The district court denied class certification, and Plaintiffs prevailed on their individual breach-of-contract claims against Defendant-Appellee State Farm after a two-day jury trial. After entry of the final judgment, Plaintiffs appealed the district courts order denying class certification, the order denying Plaintiffs’ motion to amend the case schedule, and several orders denying Plaintiffs’ motions for reconsideration. Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recite them here. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm. See Deposit Guar. Natl Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326, 336, 100 S.Ct. 1166, 63 L.Ed.2d 427 (1980) (holding that denial of class certification is appealable after entry of final judgment); see also Hall v. City of L.A., 697 F.3d 1059, 1070 (9th Cir. 2012) (explaining that other earlier, non-final orders are reviewable after a final judgment).

1. Plaintiffs primarily challenge the district courts denial of class certification. We review the denial of class certification for abuse of discretion and the district courts underlying factual findings for clear error. Ruiz Torres v. Mercer Canyons Inc., 835 F.3d 1125, 1132 (9th Cir. 2016) (citation omitted).

Plaintiffs sought to certify a class of State Farm insureds in the state of Washington who purportedly suffered diminished value damages covered under their underinsured motorist policies. To obtain class certification, they were required to satisfy the four threshold requirements of Rule 23(a)—numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(1)–(4); Parsons v. Ryan, 754 F.3d 657, 674 (9th Cir. 2014). In addition, because Plaintiffs sought certification pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3), they were required to demonstrate predominance of common questions over individualized ones and superiority of a class action over individual litigation. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3); Castillo v. Bank of Am., NA, 980 F.3d 723, 730 (9th Cir. 2020). Failure to establish any one of these requirements defeats class certification. See Castillo, 980 F.3d at 726–27 (affirming denial of class certification where plaintiff had established commonality and typicality, but not predominance).

The district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that individualized questions, rather than common questions, predominated. The district court determined that State Farm processed claims on a case-by-case basis depending on the documentation insureds submitted, resulting in a number of individualized questions regarding liability for diminished value damages. This individualized process for identifying and calculating diminished value damages distinguishes Plaintiffs’ case from Moeller v. Farmers Insurance Co. of Washington, 173 Wash.2d 264, 267 P.3d 998, 1003 (2011), in which the insurer took the position that its policy excluded coverage of diminished value across the board, and Achziger v. IDS Property Casualty Insurance Co., 772 F. Appx 416, 418–19 (9th Cir. 2019), in which the insurer conceded at oral argument that it used a universal formula to calculate diminished value damages. Because the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Plaintiffs failed to demonstrate predominance, it follows that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying class certification. See Castillo, 980 F.3d at 726–27.

2. Plaintiffs also appeal the district courts order denying Plaintiffs’ motion to amend the case schedule. A party seeking modification of a scheduling order must generally show “good cause,” Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 608 (9th Cir. 1992) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)), and we review a district courts refusal to modify a scheduling order for abuse of discretion, see Zivkovic v. S. Cal. Edison Co., 302 F.3d 1080, 1087 (9th Cir. 2002). The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to amend the case schedule, which State Farm opposed, because Plaintiffs failed to establish good cause for delaying the trial. Plaintiffs’ reliance on our decision in Achziger is misplaced because that case is distinguishable on its facts. Achziger, an unpublished memorandum disposition, did not change the applicable law regarding class certification, which Plaintiffs had ample opportunity to brief in the district court. See 772 F. Appx at 419.

3. Finally, Plaintiffs appeal the district courts orders denying reconsideration of the class certification issue and the case-schedule issue. We review the district courts denial of a motion to reconsider for abuse of discretion. See Sch. Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah Cnty. v. ACandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1262–63 (9th Cir. 1993). Because the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and motion to amend the case schedule, the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Plaintiffs’ motions for reconsideration, which essentially presented the same arguments as the initial motions the district court denied. See id.

AFFIRMED.