In re Ford Motor Co. E-350 Can Products Liability Litigation (No. II)

2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13887, *Page 23proof of an injury, sufficient to have standing underInman.However, the Court agrees with Ford that Plaintiffscannot present classwide proof of reliance or causation.As Chief Judge Brown recognized in the July 9 Opinion,"[r]eliance is an essential element of a DTPA claim . . . ."2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68241, 2010 WL 2813788, at *53(citing Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.50(a)(1)(B); MorganBldgs. & Spas, Inc. v. Humane Soc'y of S.E. Texas, 249S.W.3d 480, 490 (Tex. App. 2008)). Applied to St. Luke'sclaim, "to satisfy the reliance element for an omission, aplaintiff must show that defendant had intent to induce atransaction through failure to disclose, and that plaintiffwould not have entered [*95] into the transaction if theinformation had been disclosed." July 9 Opinion, 2010U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68241, 2010 WL 2813788, at *55. Fordcorrectly points out that Texas courts have acknowledgedthat claims requiring a showing of reliance--including theDTPA--involve many individualized inquiries that usuallycannot be resolved through class litigation. Texascourts have reached this conclusion in the aftermath ofthe Texas Supreme Court's decertification decision inHenry Schein, Inc. v. Stromboe, which recognized thatclass members "are held to the same standards of proofof reliance--and for that matter all the other elements oftheir claims--that they would be required to meet if eachsued individually." 102 S.W.3d 675, 693 (Tex. 2002)(decertifying a class of contract, warranty, and DTPAclaims for, inter alia, failure to present classwide proofof reliance). In other words, Schein held that "[t]he burdenon plaintiffs to prove reliance in order to recover onany of these theories is in no way altered by the assertionof claims on behalf of a class." Id. After Schein, multipleappellate courts in Texas rejected class certification ofconsumer fraud claims, explaining that "[p]roof of relianceor lack of reliance [*96] necessarily requires anindividualized determination because, under all the samefacts and circumstances, one person may have relied onthe misrepresentation in reaching a decision while anotherdid not rely on it in reaching the same decision."Texas South Rentals, Inc. v. Gomez, 267 S.W.3d 228, 237(Tex. App. 2008) (quoting Fid. & Guar. Life Ins. Co. v.Pina, 165 S.W.3d 416, 423 (Tex. App. 2005); GrantThornton, L.L.P. v. Suntrust Bank, 133 S.W.3d 342, 355(Tex. App. 2004)). As of 2008, no Texas appellate courtsince Schein had found evidence of classwide reliance.Gomez, 267 S.W.3d at 237 (noting that the courts of appealshad "questioned whether given the individualizednature of reliance, any class action could ever be certifiableunder Schein"). Ford concedes, however, that theTexas Supreme Court did find classwide proof of reliancelast year in Southwestern Bell Telephone Companyv. Marketing On Hold Inc., 308 S.W.3d 909 (Tex. 2010).Southwestern Bell recognized that "Texas courts havebeen reluctant to certify a class when proof of reliance isrequired as an element of a claim" since Schein, and restatedthat class certification is improper "[w]hen evidenceexisted that individual [*97] class members' experiencesreasonably could have varied . . . ." Sw. Bell,308 S.W.3d at 921-22. Nevertheless, the SouthwesternBell court concluded that the phone service consumersbefore it had common proof of reliance, because the consumershad no choice but to rely on the phone company'srepresentations by paying the allegedly improper municipalfees on their phone bills. Id. at 922. The courtreasoned that the phone company would have discontinuedphone service if a consumer objected to the fee. Id.at 922-23.In their reply, Plaintiffs make no attempt to placetheir proposed class within the limited contours of Scheinand Southwestern Bell, nor do Plaintiffs assert that theyhave common evidence of reliance. Rather, Plaintiffscontend that Chief Judge Brown's July 9 Opinion heldthat "there is no 'reliance' requirement under the relevant. . . Texas consumer protection laws." (Pls.' Reply Br. at26). Plaintiffs' argument in this regard is disingenuous,because it flatly contradicts both Texas law and ChiefJudge Brown's decision. As noted above, reliance is anessential element of a DTPA claim. July 9 Opinion, 2010U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68241, 2010 WL 2813788, at *53 (citingTex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.50(a)(1)(B); [*98]Morgan Bldgs., 249 S.W.3d at 490). Further, Chief JudgeBrown explained how Plaintiffs could satisfy the reliancerequirement for their omission claim: "to satisfy the relianceelement for an omission, a plaintiff must show thatdefendant had intent to induce a transaction through failureto disclose, and that plaintiff would not have enteredinto the transaction if the information had been disclosed."July 9 Opinion, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68241,2010 WL 2813788, at *55 (emphasis added). In otherwords, Plaintiffs must have common proof that classmembers would not have purchased the E-350 van ifFord had fully disclosed the E-350 van's handling problemsto consumers. Not only do Plaintiffs not attempt tomake this showing, but Ford correctly notes that the recordindicates that some named Plaintiffs would havebought their E-350 vans despite the handling problems.(See, e.g., Barrett 56.1 Statement, Doc. No. 206, Ex. 2, 22-29) (explaining that he would have bought the E-350 van despite the handling issues); (Blandon 56.1Statement, Doc. No. 190, Ex. 2, 3-6) (explaining thatshe purchased an E-350 van, despite knowing of its handlingproblems). No doubt, unidentified members of theproposed Texas class would [*99] have similar variationsthat would be material to whether or not they couldstate a DTPA claim. Plaintiffs have no answer for howthese individual variations can be resolved without individualinquiries.