General Motors Corp. v. Bryant

• Decision Date: 19 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-437.,07-437.
• Citation: 285 S.W.3d 634
• Parties: GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, d/b/a Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile, Appellant, v. Boyd BRYANT, On Behalf of Himself and all Others Similarly Situated, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

285 S.W.3d 634

GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, d/b/a Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile, Appellant, v. Boyd BRYANT, On Behalf of Himself and all Others Similarly Situated, Appellee.

No. 07-437.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

June 19, 2008.

Jones, Walker, Waecher, Poitevent, Carrère & Denère, LLP, by: David G. Radlauer, and Thomas A. Casey, Jr., New Orleans, LA; Haltom & Doan, by: Darby V. Doan and James N. Haltom, Texarkana, TX; and Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP, by: William A. Waddell, Jr., Little Rock, for appellant.

Patton, Roberts, McWilliams & Capshaw, LLP, by: James C. Wyly and Sean F. Rommel, Texarkana, TX; Baily/Crowe & Kugler, LLP, by: John W. Arnold, Dallas, TX; and Cullen & Co., PLLC, by: Tim Cullen, Little Rock, for appellees.

National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc., by: Robin S. Conrad, Washington, DC; O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, by: John H. Beisner, Jessica Davidson Miller, Washington, DC, and Shannon M. Pazur; and Watts, Donovan & Tilley, P.A., by: David M. Donovan, Little Rock, counsel for amicus curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America.

Quattlebaum, Grooms, Tull & Burrow, PLLC, by: Steven W. Quattlebaum and Michael N. Shannon, Little Rock, counsel for amicus curiae Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc.

PAUL E. DANIELSON, Justice.

Appellant General Motors Corporation d/b/a Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile appeals interlocutorily from the circuit court's order granting class certification to appellee Boyd Bryant, on behalf of himself and all other similarly situated persons. General Motors asserts four points on appeal: (1) that extensive legal variations in state laws defeat predominance; (2) that extensive factual variations in the millions of claims defeat predominance; (3) that class certification is not superior under Arkansas Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b); and (4) that the class definition is imprecise and overbroad. We affirm the circuit court's order granting class certification.

On September 5, 2006, Bryant filed a first amended class-action complaint in which he alleged that some 4,000,000 pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles sold by General Motors were equipped with defectively designed parking brakes. Specifically, Bryant alleged that the vehicles, model years 1999 through 2002:

contain parking brakes whose linings, due to a defectively designed high force spring clip, do not adequately float inside the parking brake drums. This failure, alone, is problematic and harms Plaintiff and Class members. But inadequate lining float, by GM's own admission, also causes the parking brakes to "self-energize" and experience excessive lining wear after only 2,500 to 6,000 miles in use.

Bryant alleged that General Motors discovered the defect in late 2000, redesigned the defective spring clip in October 2001, and withheld from dealers admission of responsibility for the defect until January 28, 2003. Bryant alleged that General Motors's actions permitted it to avoid paying millions of dollars in warranty claims. He further stated that, while General Motors recalled manual-transmission trucks with the defective parking brakes in 2005, the recall only involved about 60,000 vehicles and did not include the nearly 4,000,000 automatic-transmission vehicles owned by himself and the members of the class. For his causes of action, Bryant alleged the following: breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, unjust enrichment, and fraudulent concealment/failure to disclose. Finally, Bryant sought damages "in an amount necessary to remedy the defective parking brakes[,]" or, alternatively, out-of-pocket money damages for those who had previously paid for repairs, or, alternatively, disgorgement and restitution. After a hearing on a motion for class certification filed by Bryant, the circuit court issued a fifty-one page order in which it concluded that Bryant had satisfied each of the requirements for class certification set forth in Ark. R. Civ. P. 23 and defined the class as follows:

"Owners" or "subsequent owners" of 1999-2002 1500 Series pickups and utilities originally equipped with an automatic transmission and a PBR 210x30 Drum-in-Hat parking brake system utilizing a high-force spring clip retainer [footnote omitted], that registered his vehicle in any state in the United States.

General Motors now appeals, challenging the circuit court's findings as to predominance, superiority, and the class definition itself.

I. Standard of Review

Rule 23 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure governs class actions and provides, in pertinent part:

(a) Prerequisites to Class Action. One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all only if (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties and their counsel will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

(b) Class Actions Maintainable. An action may be maintained as a class action if the prerequisites of subdivision (a) are satisfied, and the court finds that the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy. At an early practicable time after the commencement of an action brought as a class action, the court shall determine by order whether it is to be so maintained. For purposes of this subdivision, "practicable" means reasonably capable of being accomplished. An order under this section may be altered or amended at any time before the court enters final judgment. An order certifying a class action must define the class and the class claims, issues, or defenses.

Ark. R. Civ. P. 23(a-b) (2007). Our law is well-settled that the six requirements for class-action certification include: (1) numerosity, (2) commonality, (3) typicality, (4) adequacy, (5) predominance, and (6) superiority. See THE/FRE, Inc. v. Martin, 349 Ark. 507, 78 S.W.3d 723 (2002). In reviewing an order granting class certification, we use the following standard for review:

We begin by noting that it is well settled that this court will not reverse a circuit court's ruling on a class certification absent an abuse of discretion. See, e.g., Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield v. Hicks, 349 Ark. 269, 78 S.W.3d 58 (2002). In reviewing a lower court's class certification order, "this court focuses on the evidence in the record to determine whether it supports the trial court's conclusion regarding certification." Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield, 349 Ark. at 279, 78 S.W.3d at 64. We have held that "neither the trial court nor the appellate court may delve into the merits of the underlying claim in determining whether the elements of Rule 23 have been satisfied." Id. Our court has said on this point that "a trial court may not consider whether the plaintiffs will ultimately prevail, or even whether they have a cause of action." Id. We, thus, view the propriety of a class action as a procedural question. See id.

Carquest of Hot Springs, Inc. v. General Parts, Inc., 367 Ark. 218, 223, 238 S.W.3d 916, 919-20 (2006) (quoting Van Buren Sch. Dist. v. Jones, 365 Ark. 610, 613, 232 S.W.3d 444, 447-48 (2006) (emphasis added)).

II. Predominance

A. Choice of Law

General Motors initially argues that the significant variations among the fifty-one motor-vehicles product-defect laws defeat predominance and prevent certification in the instant case. It contends that a choice-of-law analysis must be conducted prior to certification of the class and that the circuit court's failure to conduct such an analysis at this juncture permits due-process considerations to evade this court's review. Bryant responds that the circuit court correctly adhered to this court's precedent, which he claims does not require a rigorous choice-of-law analysis prior to class certification. He further contends that the circuit court's predominance finding should be affirmed as this court has previously recognized a circuit court's broad discretion to certify and manage a class action, which includes the circuit court's ability to conduct a choice-of-law analysis subsequent to class certification. General Motors replies that the elements of each of Bryant's claims must be examined so that the basic requirements of Rule 23 can be objectively determined.

Here, the circuit court provided four reasons for its finding that the potential application of multiple states' law did not create predominance concerns. First, the circuit court noted, the cases relied upon by General Motors were federal cases that required a "rigorous analysis" of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23's class-certification factors "including the impact state-law variations had on predominance." Because this court required no such rigorous analysis, the circuit court rejected General Motors's attempt to engraft such an analysis requirement into Ark. R. Civ. P. 23 and preferred, instead, to follow this court's precedent "in determining whether class certification [was] appropriate." Second, the circuit court found that Arkansas circuit courts have wide discretion to manage class actions and, pursuant to Security Benefit Life Insurance Co. v. Graham, 306 Ark. 39, 810 S.W.2d 943 (1991), the potential application of many states' laws was not germane to class certification. Instead, the circuit court opined, this court "viewed choice of law as a task for the trial court to undertake later in the course of exercising its autonomy and `substantial powers' to manage the class action."

For its third reason, the circuit court found that there was "no greater merits-intensive determination...