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Class Actions Under New Rule 23 and Federal Statutes of Limitation: a Study of Conflicting Rationale

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Class Actions Under New Rule 23 and Federal Statutes of Limitation: a Study of Conflicting Rationale Volume 13 Issue 2 Article 9 1968 Class Actions under New Rule 23 and Federal Statutes of Limitation: A Study of Conflicting Rationale Barney B. Welsh Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr Part of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons, Civil Procedure Commons, and the Courts Commons Recommended Citation Barney B. Welsh, Class Actions under New Rule 23 and Federal Statutes of Limitation: A Study of Conflicting Rationale, 13 Vill. L. Rev. 370 (1968). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/vol13/iss2/9 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Villanova Law Review by an authorized editor of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. Welsh: Class Actions under New Rule 23 and Federal Statutes of Limitatio VILLANOVA LAW REVIEW [VOL. 13 CLASS ACTIONS UNDER NEW RULE 23 AND FEDERAL STATUTES OF LIMITATION: A STUDY OF CONFLICTING RATIONALE I. INTRODUCTION A class action is a suit prosecuted or defended by one or more members of a group on behalf of all other members of the group, the purpose being to adjudicate, in a single action, disputes between the group and an adverse party or group where it is impracticable to join all the members of the group and bring them before the court.' Old Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 2 predicating its categorization upon "the character of the right sought to be enforced," permitted three types of class actions: "true," "hybrid," and "spurious." Actions under Old Rule 23(a) (1) were "true" class actions "wherein, but for the class action device, the joinder of all interested persons would [have been] essential."'4 The class action was "hybrid," under Old Rule 23(a) (2), when "in addition to the question of fact common to all, there [was], in lieu of joint or common interests, the presence of property which [called] for distribution or management." 5 "Spurious" actions under Old Rule 23(a)(3) occurred when the character of the right was "'several, and there [was] a common question of law or fact affecting the several rights and a common relief [was] sought.'" 1. See 2 W. BARRON & A. HOLTZOnF, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 561, at 254 (rev. ed. Wright 1961) ; FED. R. Civ. P. 23(c) (1). 2. FZD. R. Civ. P. 23, before the recent 1966 amendment, provided in perti- nent part: (a) Representation. If persons constituting a class are so numerous as to make it impracticable to bring them all before the court, such of them, one or more, as will fairly insure the adequate representation of all may, on behalf of all, sue or be sued, when the character of the right sought to be enforced for or against the class is (1) joint or common, or secondary in the sense that the owner of a primary right refuses to enforce that right and a member of the class thereby becomes entitled to enforce it; (2) several, and the object of the action is the adjudication of claims which do or may affect specific property involved in the action; or (3) several, and there is a common question of law or fact affecting the several rights and a common relief is sought. (c) Dismissal or Compromise. A class action shall not be dismissed or com- promised without the approval of the court. If the right sought to be enforced is one defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of this rule notice of the proposed dismissal or compromise shall be given to all members of the class in such manner as the court directs. If the right is one defined in paragraphs (2) or (3) of subdivision (a) notice shall be liven only if the court requires it. 3. 3A . MOORE, FEDERAL PRACTICE ff 23.02, at 3415 (2d ed. 1967) [hereinafter cited as MOORE]. 4. MOORE, 1 23.08, at 3435. See Developments in the Law - Miultiparty Litiga- tion in the Federal Courts, 71 HARV. L. Rsv. 874, 930 (1958). 5. MooR, 1 23.09, at 3439. 6. MOORE, 1 23.10, at 3442. For the potentiality of the use of the spurious class suit see Kalven & Rosenfield, The Contemporary Function of the Class Suit, 8 U. CHI. L. RZv. Published by Villanova684, University 699-701 Charles(1941). Widger School of Law Digital Repository, 1968 1 Villanova Law Review, Vol. 13, Iss. 2 [1968], Art. 9 WINTER 1968] COMMENTS These "right-oriented" categories, classified by Professor Moore and accepted by the courts, were intended to be functional as well as descriptive 7 in that different effects were assigned to each type of class action. While the holding in a true class action served to bind all members of the class,8 and the judgment in a hybrid class action was binding on all members of the class as to their rights in the specific property involved in the action,9 a decision in a spurious class action bound only those mem- bers of a class who were or who became actual parties to the action,' 0 thus causing the spurious class action to be essentially "a permissive joinder device."" Under Old Rule 23, an absentee class member generally became an actual party to the action by intervening under Federal Rule 24.12 However, this raised problems when an absentee class member wished to intervene at a time when the applicable statute of limitations would have barred an individual action by him. These problems were rooted in the different effects accorded judgments under the various types of class actions,13 and the courts, in spurious actions, conflicted as to the circum- stances under which intervention was to be permitted and as to the ap- 4 propriate time for intervention.' The sweeping revisions of New Rule 23, at first glance, would appear to put to rest the question of intervention in class suits.' 5 The former categorization of class actions as "true," "hybrid," and "spurious" seems to have been eliminated, and the "right-oriented" approach has been re- placed by a method which permits a class action only under circumstances 7. MOORE, 1 23.11, at 3456. 8. MOORE, 23.11, at 3458. See Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur v. Cauble, 255 U.S. 356 (1921). 9. MOORE, ff 23.11, at 3468-69. See Towle v. Donnell, 49 F.2d 49 (6th Cir. 1931). 10. MOORE, t 23.11, at 3465. 11. MOORE, J 23.10, at 3442. See Developments in the Law - Multiparty Litiga- tion in the Federal Courts, 71 HARV. L. Rvv. 874, 930 (1958). 12. See, e.g., Oppenheimer v. F.J. Young & Co., 3 F.R.D. 220 (S.D.N.Y. 1943). 13. See 14 SYRACUSE L. REv. 127, 128 & n.3 (1962). 14. There seems to have been agreement that commencement of the suit tolled the statute of limitations in both the "true" and "hybrid" class actions. 2 W. BARRON & A. HOLTZOr, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 568, at 315 (rev. ed. Wright 1961). See Richmond v. Irons, 121 U.S. 27 (1887). The division of authority con- cerning tolling in the spurious situation will be examined in detail. See 76 HARV. L. REv. 1675, 1676 (1963). 15. Donelan, The Advantages and Disadvantages of a Class Suit Under New Rule 23, as Seen by the Treble Damage Plaintiff, 32 ABA ANTITRUST L.J. [formerly ABA ANTITRUST SECTION] 264, 265-66 (1966) (footnote omitted). The author states: Another obvious advantage which accrues to every member of the class at commencement, whether he knows he's a member of the class or not, is tolling the statute of limitations. If, in his discretion, a trial judge allows someone to join the class three to four years after commencement of the action, and thereby sneak in under the statute of limitations, the difference between substantive and pro- cedural law will be in for some heavy scrutiny and I predict some very, very heated arguments. This advantage also works to the benefit of those who, ignorant of their rights, have failed to act sooner. Defense counsel will soon learn that this same aid extends to the jackals who hang back until the tiger has downed the stag ready for the kill. The miracle of an action under the new rule 23 is that it tolls the statute of limitations for the dull, the lazy, the timid, the sly, and https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/vol13/iss2/9if he is there among them, the unfortunate who has really been injured. 2 Welsh: Class Actions under New Rule 23 and Federal Statutes of Limitatio VILLANOVA LAW REVIEW [VOL. 13 which are deemed to make such an action appropriate. 16 The change in the new rule that formally eliminates the category of "spurious" is the provision that the judgment in a class action based upon a common ques- 17 tion of law or fact can operate conclusively on all members of the class. But, notwithstanding the formal elimination of the spurious category, in a class action maintained under New Rule 23(b) (3), the nature of the class is the same as in the old spurious class action in that the rights of the members of the class are several, and there are predominate ques- tions of law or fact which are common to the members of the class.'8 Once the court determines that the action is maintainable as a class action under 23(b) (3), it is bound, under 23(c) (2), to give notice to all identifiable members of the class that unless they expressly request exclusion they will be included in the class, and, that if upon receiving notice no such request is made, they will be bound by the judgment.19 Thus, under the new rule, the spurious class suit is no longer a device for permissive joinder,20 and an absentee no longer need take affirmative 21 action to intervene before he becomes an actual party to the action.
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