Baldwin & Flynn v. National Safety Associates
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
149 F.R.D. 598 (1993)
- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
Baldwin & Flynn (Baldwin) (plaintiffs), a direct sales organization, sought class-action status on behalf of other direct sales organizations in its suit against National Safety Associates (NSA) (defendant), a multilevel sales organization that ran an alleged illegal pyramid scheme for the sale of household air and water filtration systems. NSA opposed class certification and filed a motion to depose almost half of the absent class members. NSA argued that it needed the additional discovery of oral statements to dispute Baldwin’s contention that the putative class members’ claims shared common questions of law and fact, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a). NSA specifically argued that the oral statements may reveal that some of the class members may have received different pitches from different sources who may not have been agents of NSA. Baldwin argued that it had provided more than enough evidence for the court to certify the class.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Langford, C.J.)
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