Nationwide Settlements Get a Reprieve as 9th Cir. En Banc Court Agrees to Rehear Hyundai

In early 2018, the Ninth Circuit dropped a live grenade into the already-besieged class action bar by issuing In re Hyundai and Kia Fuel Economy Litigation, 881 F.3d 679 (9th Cir. 2018) (slip op. available here) (“Hyundai”). In Hyundai, a divided panel, over Judge Nguyen’s strong dissent, threatened to obliterate nationwide class actions in the Ninth Circuit. Inventing a new predominance requirement not found anywhere in Rule 23, the Hyundai majority held that a district court may certify a nationwide class alleging violations of California law only after “apply[ing] the California governmental interest test.” Slip op. at 49. Under this test, if there are material differences in the 50 states’ consumer protection laws, then predominance is not satisfied. Id. at 50. In practice, Hyundai erected a near-insurmountable obstacle for nationwide class action settlement, as state consumer protection laws invariably differ.

Thankfully, the impending class action apocalypse has been put on hold. On July 27, 2018, the en banc court of the Ninth Circuit granted the parties’ petition for rehearing, rendering the panel decision non-precedential. Rehearing in the en banc court took place on September 27, 2018, and comes after public interest organizations, pro-business groups, and academics joined forces, forming a formidable alliance to advocate for en banc review.* As set forth in the amicus briefs and the settling parties’ petitions, the Hyundai panel flouted decades of Ninth Circuit authority, including the seminal Hanlon v. Chrysler Corp., 150 F.3d 1011 (9th Cir. 1998), which has guided lower courts on settlement approval and did not require a conflict-of-law test to satisfy predominance. Hyundai’s reasoning was also directly at odds with the influential Third Circuit en banc decision Sullivan v. DB Investments, Inc., 667 F.3d 273, 308 (3d Cir. 2011), which held that state law variations do not matter for settlements since no trial will commence.

The amici also warn that, if nationwide settlements can no longer be certified, not only will consumers be disempowered, but defendants would be unable to get their peace. Instead, defendants will be forced to defend suits in piecemeal fashion, perhaps a suit in every state. This defeats the purpose of the class device—efficiency—by multiplying litigation involving the same products and similar claims.

Although the order granting rehearing is obviously good news for the settling parties and consumers, reversal is not certain, partly due to the unusual nature of the Ninth Circuit en banc practice. While the full en banc court votes on whether to rehear the matter, the rehearing itself is handled by the Chief Judge and ten non-recused active judges who are randomly drawn. Depending on the makeup of the en banc court, the Hyundai panel decision may yet be affirmed. However, close observers expect that the en banc court will curtail, if not completely reverse, the panel’s broad holding. One possibility is that the en banc court will adopt the reasoning of Sullivan and hold that state law variations are not relevant to settlements, which would be a clear win for consumers. But, the en banc court could also hold that state law variations can only be a basis for denying approval of class action settlements if raised by an objector (and variations in state law were not raised by objectors in this case), which would be a Pyrrhic victory, benefiting professional objectors and no one else. Whatever the result, both consumers and businesses hope that the en banc court will ultimately limit the damage caused by the heedless panel decision.

*Capstone Law APC, working with Glancy Prongay and Murray LLP, submitted an amicus brief supporting rehearing en banc in this case on behalf of retired District Judge Stephen G. Larson and Professor David Rosenberg of Harvard Law School. The author of this post was the primary author of that amicus brief.

Authored By:
Ryan Wu, Partner
CAPSTONE LAW APC