On March 9, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition for permission to appeal an order remanding a case removed to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act.
In Ruhlen v. Holiday Haven Homeowners, Inc., 11th Cir. No. 21-90022, 2022 WL 701622 (11th Cir. Mar. 9, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit denied a petition for permission to appeal a district.
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On February 2, 2021, the Eleventh Circuit joined the Second, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits in holding that Rule 23 does not require proof of an administratively feasible method to identify absent class members. In so doing, the court rejected the heightened standard for ascertainability recognized by the First, Third, and Fourth Circuits. Nevertheless, the Eleventh Circuit reiterated that ascertainability which asks whether a class is adequately defined remains an implicit requirement of Rule 23. Moreover, while the administrative feasibility of determining class membership will rarely defeat class certification standing alone, it remains a factor for courts to consider when assessing the manageability of a class under Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement.
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Administrative Feasibility Requirement: What Does the Future Hold for Ascertainability?
The Class Action Chronicle, courts have struggled to define the ascertainability requirement that is implicit in Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Several courts, including the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Third and Fourth Circuits, have required proof of administrative feasibility
i.e., that the identification of class members will be a manageable process that does not require significant individual inquiry as a prerequisite to class certification. Other courts, such as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Circuits, have rejected that approach, finding that ascertainability does not mandate proof of administrative feasibility.
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Takeaway: Administrative feasibility is not a prerequisite for class certification in the Eleventh Circuit, although it remains a relevant consideration under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3)’s manageability factor. Manageability challenges, however, rarely prevent certification. There is a deep circuit split on this issue, with the Third, First, and Fourth Circuits applying a heightened standard for ascertainability that requires a class representative to propose an administratively feasible method of ascertaining class members at the class certification stage. The Eleventh Circuit, however, solidified the split by joining the Second, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits in rejecting administrative feasibility as a class certification requirement.