Goldberg v. CPC Intern., Inc.
| Decision Date | 10 June 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-4172,81-4172 |
| Citation | 678 F.2d 1365 |
| Parties | 1982-2 Trade Cases 64,819 Lisa P. GOLDBERG, a resident of the City and County of San Francisco, State of California; The Essential Ingredient, a California partnership; Black Kettle, Ltd., a California limited partnership, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CPC INTERNATIONAL, INC., a corporation; A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company, a corporation; Standard Brands, Inc., a corporation; American Maize-Products Company, a corporation; The Hubinger Company, a corporation; National Starch and Chemical Corporation, a corporation; Penick & Ford Inc., a corporation; Anheuser-Busch, Inc., a corporation; and DOES I through 100, inclusive, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Ronald Lovitt, Lovitt & Hannan, Inc., San Francisco, Cal., argued for plaintiffs-appellants; Mark F. Anderson, San Francisco, Cal., on brief.
Richard W. Odgers, San Francisco, Cal., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Before SNEED and TANG, Circuit Judges, and NIELSEN, * District Judge.
In March, 1980, Goldberg, representing a class of indirect purchasers, filed a class action in the California state court, alleging violations of the Cartwright Act, Cal.Bus. & Prof.Code § 16700 et seq., and restraint of trade under California common law. She named as defendants eight corporate manufacturers of corn derivatives, all incorporated in states other than California, and 100 Doe defendants, 50 of whom were allegedly California citizens.
On April 29, 1980, defendants removed the suit from state to federal court, claiming diversity of citizenship and federal question jurisdiction. Goldberg's motion to remand was granted by the district court on August 13, 1980. The court acknowledged that none of the named defendants was a California resident, while all of the plaintiffs were, but found removal improper because the Doe allegations defeated diversity. Goldberg v. CPC International, Inc., 495 F.Supp. 233 (N.D.Cal.1980).
On December 30, 1980, Goldberg filed an "At-Issue Memorandum" in the California Superior Court, enabling the case to be placed on the active calendar. The form memorandum included the following statement by one of the attorneys for the plaintiff class:
I hereby represent to the court that all essential parties have been served with process or have appeared herein and that this case is at issue as to all such parties ... that to my knowledge no other parties will be served with a summons prior to the time of trial, and I know of no further pleading to be filed.
(emphasis added).
As no Doe defendants had been served with process, the defendants again removed the case to federal court. Defendants (CPC) alleged that the $10,000.00 amount in controversy requirement of 28 U.S.C. § 1332 was satisfied, despite the small individual claims of the class members, because plaintiffs' potential attorneys' fees would exceed that amount. Goldberg's motion for remand was denied March 6, 1981, and the order was certified for appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).
The issue is whether the jurisdictional amount in controversy is satisfied. We find that it is not.
In Zahn v. International Paper Co., 414 U.S. 291, 94 S.Ct. 505, 38 L.Ed.2d 511 (1973), the Supreme Court held that in Rule 23(b)(3) class actions, separate claims must be considered separately and each class member's claim must satisfy the jurisdictional amount. If we assume that this is a class action, see City of...
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Howard v. Globe Life Ins. Co.
...principle, attorney's fees have frequently been attributed to all class members on a pro rata basis. Goldberg v. CPC Intern., Inc., 678 F.2d 1365, 1367 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 945, 103 S.Ct. 259, 74 L.Ed.2d 202 (1982); Spellman v. Meridian Bank, 1995 WL 764548 (3d Cir. Feb.16, 19......
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Aetna Us Healthcare v. Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft
...is too ambiguous, in any event, to establish that the award to each class member would exceed $75,000. See Goldberg v. CPC Int'l, Inc., 678 F.2d 1365, 1367 (9th Cir.1982) (aggregation of attorneys' fees not allowed to satisfy jurisdictional amount); Lauchheimer v. Gulf Oil, 6 F.Supp.2d 339,......
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Gilmer v. Walt Disney Co., Civil No. 96-5012.
...of a "common fund" attorney's fee may not be considered in measuring the amount in controversy. Plaintiff cites Goldberg v. CPC International, Inc., 678 F.2d 1365 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 945, 103 S.Ct. 259, 74 L.Ed.2d 202 (1982), Visintine v. Saab Automobile A.B., 891 F.Supp. 496......
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Lauchheimer v. Gulf Oil
...requirement] cannot satisfy the requirement by aggregation of claims.'" Haisch, 942 F.Supp. at 1251 (quoting Goldberg v. CPC Int'l, Inc., 678 F.2d 1365, 1367 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 945, 103 S.Ct. 259, 74 L.Ed.2d 202 (1982)). This Court believes that this reasoning is sound with ......