22. Is the court likely to grant the computer company's motion to dismiss?

A class action is a procedure through which a single person or small group of co-parties may represent a larger group, or a «class» of persons sharing a common interest. A class action is used where the class is too large for all of the members to be joined as individual parties, or because of difficulties of personal jurisdiction, venue, or diversity. In a class action, only the named class representatives must satisfy the requirements of personal jurisdiction, subject-matter jurisdiction, and venue.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) establish class actions in FRCP 23. To become a class action, a case:

(i) must be so large that joinder of all members is impracticable;

(ii) must contain common questions of law or fact shared by the class;

(iii) have claims or defenses from the named representatives that are typical of those in the class; AND

(iv) have representatives that fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

Judgment in an FRCP 23(b)(3) class action is binding on all those whom the court finds to be members of the class. However, any person has the right to exclude himself from the class if he notifies the court of his request to be excluded. This notice must be provided prior to the date specified in the notice of the class action. This is known as «opting out.»

To obtain relief from a class action ruling to which an individual has not opted out but that the individual finds unsatisfactory, he must attack one of the four requirements to certifying a class.

Full faith and credit requires that a valid class action settlement be binding on all members who did not opt out, and class members may not collaterally challenge a judgment in another court unless the judgment did not satisfy due process.

The man is claiming the class settlement was insufficient to compensate him personally, and he is attempting to get further compensation for the same claim. This amounts to a collateral challenge to an otherwise valid class settlement, with no evidence that the action did not adequately represent the interests of absent members. Full faith and credit prevents the man from collaterally attacking the valid class settlement in a subsequent suit.

B is correct. The man is raising the same claim that was already litigated in the previous class action, with no evidence that the class failed to adequately represent the interests of absent members. His argument that the prior settlement was insufficient to compensate him personally, therefore, amounts to a collateral challenge. There is no evidence indicating that the class action failed to satisfy due process requirements. Full faith and credit requires that the man remain bound by the settlement and prevents him from collaterally attacking it in a subsequent suit.

A is incorrect. This answer choice states the correct conclusion with the incorrect legal reasoning. The court is likely to grant the motion to dismiss, but not because the man probably received actual notice of the class action. Courts will normally require that class members be given notice of the fact that the suit is pending. However, absent members may be bound by class actions even if they did not receive actual notice. So long as notice was reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action, it will be effective. The court is still likely to grant the motion, however, for the reasons stated above.

C is incorrect. The requirement of personal jurisdiction does not have to be satisfied vis-à-vis absent class members who do not opt out. An absent plaintiff who does not opt out will be bound by the decision, regardless of whether personal jurisdiction existed over him as an individual.

D is incorrect. Although impracticability is a requirement for certifying a class under the federal rules, there is no evidence that the prior class action did not satisfy the numerosity requirement of certification.