Deiter v. Microsoft Corp.
| Decision Date | 07 February 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-1633.,04-1633. |
| Citation | 436 F.3d 461 |
| Parties | Paul A. DEITER; Gary Leach; Franklin L. DeJulius, Plaintiffs-Appellants, and Linda Dameron Kloth; Blaine Cox; Debra Cunningham; Eric Ferrell; Elizabeth Strickland; Rene Gonzalez; Clay Tyler; Peter Haklar; Eric S. Lazarus; Harold A. Phillips; Precision Billing Services, Incorporated; MSC Systems, Incorporated; O'Sullivan, Hicks & Patton; Carl C. Conrad; Paul L. Howard; Thomas McCaleb; Vicki McCaleb; James Woods; Leyton T. Brown; Gale Ruffin; Ryan D. Reynolds; Jay S. Quigley; John W. Redmann; Kevin Huddell; Eleaders, Incorporated; John Glase; Bruce Wright; Kbsnet, SA; Evangelos Kritikos; Walter Lorell; Renaldo Veltri; Johanna M. McWhinney; Jodi Marks; Judd Goodman; Silverware, Limited; Data Unit AG; Datacrown, Limited, on Behalf of Themselves and All Others Similarly Situated; Wayne Mims; Gravity, Incorporated; 403 West Loop 820 N; to the Rescue Comprehensive Computer Services; D's Pet Supplies, Incorporated; David Bach; The Rubbright Group; James M. Burt; Reclaim Center, Incorporated; Steven Nielsen; Raymond Pryor; Seastrom Associates Ltd; Chris Campbell; Denise Davenport; Sara Cheeseman; Ronald Rodjenski; Harold Phillips; Matthew W. O'Neill; Robert Weinke; Idy Klein; David Jaffee; Avi Mandel; South Dakota Association of Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors; Johnnie Moon; Robert Lee Colebank; Bryan K. Manson; Fred Luce; Edward Michael O'Brien; Golf O'Brien Company; Cynthia M. Aikens; Clair Falgoust; Carlton Falgoust; Manual Knight; Webster T. Knight; James Rudasil; Aubrey Bernard; Geraldine Guice; William Brand Pryor; Pacific Coast Systems; Teri Gordon; Michael Shevekov; Martin Hagan; Elham Shirzai; Dawn Brandt; Donald J. Gianni; Mario Traffichini; John F. Siegenthaler; Caren M. Mccall; Larry A. Penix; Pryce M. Haynes, II; John K. Heidlage; Ryan D. Reynolds; Daniel C. Ray; GTI System Integrators; Tziri Fine; Derek M. Prentice; Kurt C. Carter; James T. Brems; Tim Appelgate; Julie Tinkham; Steven Master; Thomas Infante; Turner Corporation; John A. Supernovich; Marlene K. Supernovich; Sherwood; Automatik Design, Incorporated; State of West Virginia, ex rel Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General; Netscape Communications Corporation; Sun Microsystems; BE Incorporated; Burst.Com, Incorporated; Ivax Corporation; Keith Cooper; Conway, Mackenzie & Dunleavy, PC; Christine Barton; Rhoda Henning; Karen Green; Renae Lucas; John Roby; John Does 1-50; Michael Lewis; Henry Mascagni; Hayley J. Gardner; Steve Grubb; Linda Stewart; Murline Addington; Travis D. Mchann, Jr.; Billy Lewis; Booker T. Bailey, Jr.; James Pigg; Angela Brinkley; Delanious Harried; Gertrude Green; Camelia Calvert; Mary Wyatt; Emma Walton; Hetha Green; Realnetworks, Incorporated; Pradeep Sujan, Plaintiffs, v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Daniel A. Small, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. David Bruce Tulchin, Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, New York, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF:
Michael D. Hausfeld, Michael W. Byrne, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, Washington, D.C.; Stanley M. Chesley, Robert Heuck, II, Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley, Cincinnati, Ohio; Dianne M. Nast, Michael Nast, Roda & Nast, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Douglas Thompson, William Butterfield, Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran, Washington, D.C.; Frank C. Dudenhefer, Cummings, Cummings & Dudenhefer, New Orleans, Louisiana; James R. Malone, Chimicles & Tikellis, L.L.P., Birmingham, Alabama; Elwood S. Simon, John P. Zuccarini, Elwood Simon & Associates, Birmingham, Alabama; Robert A. Skirnick, Meredith, Cohen, Greenfogel & Skirnick, P.C., New York, New York; William Markovits, Markovits & Greiwe, Cincinnati, Ohio; Lynn L. Sarko, Mark Griffin, Raymond Farrow, Keller Rohrback, L.L.P., Seattle, Washington; Christopher Lovell, Lovell, Stewart & Halebian, L.L.P., New York, New York; Melissa H. Maxman, Duane Morris, L.L.P., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; William Kerschaw, Kerschaw, Cutter, Ratinoff & York, Sacramento, California; James Patrick Ulwick, Kramon & Graham, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants. Michael F. Brockmeyer, Jeffrey D. Herschman, Piper Rudnick, L.L.P., Baltimore, Maryland; Richard J. Wallis, Steven J. Aeschbacher, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington; Daryl A. Libow, Richard C. Pepperman, II, Sharon L. Nelles, Sullivan & Cromwell, L.L.P., New York, New York; Charles B. Casper, Peter Breslauer, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, L.L.P., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Appellee.
Before WIDENER, NIEMEYER, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge NIEMEYER wrote the opinion, in which Judge WIDENER and Judge GREGORY joined.
In this antitrust litigation, the district court entered an order dated May 27, 2003, certifying a class of consumers seeking damages against Microsoft Corporation allegedly caused by Microsoft's use of monopoly power to overcharge purchasers of Microsoft's Windows operating system software during the period between February 1999 and April 2003. Plaintiffs Paul A. Deiter, Franklin L. DeJulius, and Gary L. Leach, who made their purchases on the Internet or by telephone during the class period, were appointed class representatives. The district court excluded from the class businesses who were direct purchasers of software from Microsoft through its "Enterprise Program" because these "Enterprise customers" purchased bundles of various Microsoft software in large volume and for negotiated prices. The court concluded that the representative parties' claims were not "typical" of the claims that the Enterprise customers might have. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(3). The court concluded in the alternative that certifying a class consisting of both individuals and Enterprise customers would not be "superior" to other methods of proceeding with the Enterprise customers' potential claims. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3).
On appeal of the certification order, we affirm.
In the wake of the United States' suit against Microsoft Corporation, in which Microsoft was found to have maintained an illegal monopoly in the worldwide market for licensing Intel-compatible PC operating systems, see United States v. Microsoft Corp., 253 F.3d 34 (D.C.Cir.2001), dozens of class action lawsuits were filed against Microsoft in courts across the country. The plaintiffs in these actions contended that as a result of Microsoft's violations, they were overcharged for operating system software and applications software. They sought damages and injunctive relief under the Clayton and Sherman Acts. See 15 U.S.C. § 2, 15, 26. On April 25, 2000, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred all such cases pending in federal district courts to the District of Maryland pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. Shortly thereafter, 39 plaintiffs filed a superseding consolidated complaint in which they purported to represent multiple classes of consumers. Following Microsoft's motion to dismiss or for summary judgment, the district court dismissed the damages claims of all plaintiffs who did not buy software directly from Microsoft pursuant to Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois, 431 U.S. 720, 97 S.Ct. 2061, 52 L.Ed.2d 707 (1977). The court also dismissed the claims of foreign plaintiffs under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982, 15 U.S.C. § 6a.
On September 5, 2001, the remaining plaintiffs filed a motion with the district court to certify four classes of persons who had "acquired" Microsoft operating system or applications software anytime after November 10, 1995. Two purported classes were defined by those requesting injunctive relief — one for direct purchasers of operating systems and one for direct purchasers of applications software. The other two were defined by those claiming monetary damages — again, one for operating systems and one for applications software. By order dated May 27, 2003, the district court certified a single class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) for claims seeking monetary damages, which it defined as:
All persons and entities in the United States who acquired directly from Microsoft through the shop.microsoft.com Web site (by ordering on line or by calling the toll free number provided there) a license, other than for re-sale or relicensing, for Microsoft single-user operating system software, including upgrades, compatible with x86 computers, but not including Windows 2000 or Windows NT, from February 22, 1999 through April 30, 2003.
The court designated Paul Deiter, Franklin DeJulius, and Gary Leach as representative parties. Each had acquired a copy of Windows operating system from Microsoft's shop.microsoft.com website in 1999 or 2000. In its order, the court denied the plaintiffs' motion for class certification in all other respects. By order dated July 28, 2003, the court expanded the scope of the class "to include persons who purchased Microsoft operating system software as `Full Packaged Product' in direct marketing campaigns during the class period."
In defining the class, the district court rejected the plaintiffs' request to certify a class of persons who acquired applications software because none of the class representatives ever purchased such software from Microsoft. The court found that the different software programs were sold in different markets. Because the liability and damage issues presented by claims arising out of different markets were inherently different, the court held that the representatives who only purchased operating system software did not have claims that were typical of the claims belonging to purchasers who bought Microsoft applications software. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(3).
The court also excluded from the class businesses that purchased large quantities of Microsoft software licenses through Microsoft's Enterprise Program. Under...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Skaar v. Wilkie
... ... 23(b) advisory committee's note to 1966 ... amendment; see also In re Gen. Motors Corp. Pick-Up Truck ... Fuel Tank Prods. Liab. Litig. , 55 F.3d 768, 785 (3d Cir ... 1995) ... members "strikes at the heart of the respective causes ... of actions." Deiter v. Microsoft Corp. , 436 ... F.3d 461, 466-67 (4th Cir. 2006). The class ... ...
-
Novell, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., 06-1134.
...competition in the PC operating-systems market. See, e.g., Kloth v. Microsoft Corp., 444 F.3d 312 (4th Cir.2006); Deiter v. Microsoft Corp., 436 F.3d 461 (4th Cir.2006); In re Microsoft Corp. Antitrust Litig., 355 F.3d 322 (4th Cir.2004); In re Microsoft Corp. Antitrust Litig., 333 F.3d 517......
-
Gaston v. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Inc.
...a named plaintiff's individual claim and those of the class members she aims to represent is to be expected. See Deiter v. Microsoft Corp. , 436 F.3d 461, 467 (4th Cir. 2006). Rather, the representative's claims must only have the same essential characteristics as the claims of the class at......
-
Johnson v. Jessup
...is captured by the notion that ‘as goes the claim of the named plaintiff, so go the claims of the class.’ " Deiter v. Microsoft Corp., 436 F.3d 461, 466 (4th Cir. 2006) (quoting Broussard v. Meineke Discount Muffler Shops, Inc., 155 F.3d 331, 340 (4th Cir. 1998) ). In order to determine whe......
-
Antitrust Class Certification Standards
...72 However, while the representative’s claim must be typical, it does not have to be identical. 73 69. See Deiter v. Microsoft Corp., 436 F.3d 461, 467 (4th Cir. 2006) (holding that “the appropriate analysis of typicality must involve a comparison of the plaintiff’s claims or defenses with ......
-
Table of cases
...Drugs (Phentermine, Fenfluramine, Dexfenfluramine) Prods. Liab. Litig., In re, 282 F.3d 220 (3d Cir. 2002), 276 Dieter v. Microsoft Corp., 436 F.3d 461 (4th Cir. 2006), 213 Digital Music Antitrust Litig., In re, 812 F. Supp. 2d 390 (S.D.N.Y. 2011), 40, 428 Dimidowich v. Bell & Howell, 803 F......
-
Class Action Assertion of Indirect Purchaser Claims
.... . . .” 109 107 . In re Microsoft Corp. Antitrust Litig., 214 F.R.D. 371, 374 (D. Md. 2003). 108. Id. 109 . Dieter v. Microsoft Corp., 436 F.3d 461, 468 (4th Cir. 2006). It is worth noting, however, that the indirect purchaser antitrust class actions brought under state law against Microso......
-
Table of Cases
...In re , 739 F.3d 790 (5th Cir. 2014), 209 DeHoyos v. Allstate Corp., 240 F.R.D. 269 (W.D. Tex. 2007), 250 Deiter v. Microsoft Corp., 436 F.3d 461 (4th Cir. 2006), 161, 162, 164 Dell Computer Corp. v. Union des consommateurs, [2007] 2 S.C.R. 801 (Can.), 287, 289 Dell’Aniello v. Vivendi Canad......