A federal court earlier this month denied class certification in a case involving allegedly defective Sonicare Diamond Clean and Healthy White powered toothbrushes.  Coe v. Philips Oral Healthcare, Inc., No. C13-518MJP (W.D. Wash., 10/10/14).  Readers should note this was another example of a putative class defendant taking the initiative and moving preemptively to strike class allegations.

Plaintiffs sought a certification of a nationwide class of toothbrush purchasers under the Washington Consumer Protection Act– something having to do with the attachment of the metal shaft of the device affecting the brush strokes per minute.  Defendant moved to deny class certification. We have posted about this tactic before.  Fed.R.Civ. P. 23 does not preclude affirmative motions to deny class certification. In Vinole v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.,571 F.3d 935 (9th Cir. 2009), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the right of defendants to bring preemptive motions, provided that plaintiffs are not procedurally prejudiced by the timing of the motion. Id. at 994.

Resolution of the class certification issue, said the court, turned primarily on the choice-of-law analysis, which determines whether Washington law or the laws of putative class members’ home states should apply. If Washington law applied, common questions were more likely to predominate for a nationwide class, and a class action may seem more efficient and desirable. On the other hand, if the consumer protection laws of the consumers’ home states apply, variations in the laws will overwhelm common questions, precluding certification. The next inquiry then was whether sufficient discovery had taken place to allow for the choice-of-law analysis. The court concluded it had.

Defendant showed that an actual conflict exists between the Washington Consumer Protection Act (“WCPA”) and the consumer protection laws of other states.  Because a conflict exists, the court applied Washington’s most significant relationship test in order to determine which law to apply. In adopting the approach of the Second Restatement of Law on Conflict of Laws (1971), Washington has rejected the rule of lex loci delicti (the law of the place where the wrong took place).  Instead, Washington’s test requires courts to determine which state has the “most significant relationship” to the cause of action.  If the relevant contacts to the cause of action are balanced, the court considers the interests and public policies of potentially concerned states and the manner and extent of such policies as they relate to the transaction.

Washington, observed the court, has a significant relationship to alleged deceptive trade practices by a Washington corporation. Washington has a strong interest in promoting a fair and honest business environment in the state, and in preventing its corporations from engaging in unfair or deceptive trade practices in Washington or elsewhere. Conversely, said the court, the putative class members’ home states have significant relationships to allegedly deceptive trade practices resulting in injuries to their citizens within their borders. The Toothbrushes were sold and purchased, and representations of their quality made and relied on, entirely outside of Washington. No Plaintiff resides in Washington. While Plaintiffs contend Philips Oral Healthcare spent considerable time and resources analyzing the problem and attempting to fix it at their Washington facilities, thus increasing Washington’s relationship to the action, the crux of Plaintiffs’ action involves the marketing and sale of the Toothbrushes, which took place in other states.

Furthermore, the Ninth Circuit recently recognized the strong interest of each state in determining the optimum level of consumer protection balanced against a more favorable business environment, and to calibrate its consumer protection laws to reflect their chosen balance. Mazza v. Am. Honda Motor Co., Inc., 666 F.3d 581 (9th Cir. 2012). Washington has formally adopted § 148 of the Restatement in the fraud and misrepresentation context. FutureSelect Portfolio Mgmt., Inc. v. Tremont Grp. Holdings, Inc., 180 Wn.2d 954, 331 P.3d 29, 36 (2014). Section 148 of the Restatement and its comments make clear that the alleged misrepresentation to consumers and the consumers’ pecuniary injuries, both of which occurred in consumers’ home states and not in Washington, should be considered the most significant contacts in this particular case. Restatement (Second) of Law on Conflict of Laws § 148 cmts. i, j (1971).

Thus, the court agreed with defendant that consumers’ home states had the most significant relationship to their causes of action. Therefore, the consumer protection laws of those states, and not WCPA, would apply. Material differences between the various consumer protection laws prevent Plaintiffs from demonstrating Rule 23(b)(3) predominance and manageability for a nationwide class. Accordingly, the Court granted defendant’s motion to deny certification of a nationwide class under WCPA.