Seventh Circuit Weighs in on Offers of Judgment
In this space, we concentrate on class action decisions in the Carolinas, as well as Fourth Circuit and United States Supreme Court precedent. Occasionally, though, we venture beyond these jurisdictions to highlight issues of particular note, including those where courts are divided. We’ve previously reported here how offers of judgment interact with mootness. In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, the United States Supreme Court held that an unaccepted settlement offer, even if it offers all relief sought in the case, does not render a case moot when the affected party seeks relief on behalf of a class. Last Friday, the Seventh Circuit considered a question not resolved by Gomez: What happens when the named representative accepts a Rule 68 offer of judgment? Can he still appeal the denial of class certification? Like the question of appellate standing upon which the Supreme Court accepted certiorari in Microsoft, the answer is significant.
In Wright v. Calumet City, Illinois, No. 14-cv-10351 (7th Cir. Feb. 17, 2017), the Seventh Circuit acknowledged a split of authority on this question: “Where the Rule 68 offer is accepted but by its terms exempts the class certification issue, courts are divided as to whether the plaintiff retains a concrete interest sufficient to meet the case or controversy requirement of Article III.” The Seventh Circuit noted that Wright’s claim to standing was particularly strained because he accepted the Rule 68 offer without reservation, and he preserved no interest in receiving an incentive award. Wright argued that he had a sufficient interest in the case because his offer of judgment did not include attorney’s fees for the class claim (as opposed to his individual claim), but – as the Seventh Circuit observed – Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., 494 U.S. 472, 480 (1990) holds that “an interest in attorneys’ fees is, of course, insufficient to create an Article III case or controversy where none exists.” The court noted that there is some tension between Lewis and Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper, 445 U.S. 326 (1980), in which the Supreme Court allowed plaintiffs, whose individual claims had been satisfied, to appeal the denial of class certification based on their asserted interest in shifting attorney’s fees to the class members. But the court distinguished Wright’s case from Roper on the ground that Wright had accepted the Rule 68 offer “as satisfaction of all of the relief that he sought in the district court.” In Roper, by contrast, the district court entered judgment for the plaintiffs in the amount tendered by the defendant, even though the plaintiffs had refused that offer. Thus, even under Roper, Wright’s claims are moot.
There will likely be more permutations on the Rule 68/mootness issues, so stay tuned.
