Smith, et al. v. Triad of Alabama LLC
Filing
78
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER: it is ORDERED as follows: 1) The Named Plfs' 68 motion for class certification (Doc. # 68) is GRANTED; 2) The court CERTIFIES under FRCP 23(b)(3) a class, as further set out in order; 3) The court CERTIFIES under FRCP 23(b)(3) two subclasses, as further set out in order; 4) Plfs Julie McGee, Adam Parker, Sandra Hall, and Jack Whittle are APPROVED as class representatives; 5) Plf Bradley Smith is REJECTED as class representative because he is not typical of th e class under FRCP 23(a)(3); 6) Pursuant to FRCP 23(g), the law firm of McCallum, Methvin & Terrell, P.C., is APPOINTED as class counsel; 7) Trial of this matter likely will be BIFURCATED, subject to Rule 23(c)(1)(C); The common elements of all four causes of action, as described above, will be tried collectively, and the elements of causation and damages will be tried individually or collectively, as appropriate; and 8) Pursuant to FRCP 23(c)(2)(B), the parties are ORDERED to submit to this cou rt, on or before 4/14/2017, a class notice plan and forms of notice; If the parties are unable to agree on forms of notice, the parties shall each submit on or before 4/7/2017 their proposed forms, accompanied by a memorandum explaining the party's position, and each party shall respond to the other's proposed notice plan and forms of notice no later than 4/14/2017. Signed by Chief Judge William Keith Watkins on 3/17/2017. (wcl, )
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
BRADLEY S. SMITH, JULIE S.
MCGEE, ADAM PARKER,
SANDRA W. HALL, and JACK
WHITTLE,
Plaintiffs,
v.
TRIAD OF ALABAMA, LLC,
d/b/a FLOWERS HOSPITAL,
Defendant.
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CASE NO. 1:14-CV-324-WKW
[WO]
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Before the court is the motion for class certification filed by Plaintiffs Bradley
S. Smith, Julie S. McGee, Adam Parker, Sandra W. Hall, and Jack Whittle
(collectively, the “Named Plaintiffs”). (Doc. # 68.) The Named Plaintiffs seek to
certify a class of individuals whose personal identifying information and protected
health information (their “personal information”) was compromised by a former
employee of Defendant Triad of Alabama, LLC (“Flowers,” “Flowers Hospital,” or
the “Hospital”). The Named Plaintiffs—except for Mr. Smith, as discussed in Part
IV.C.3, infra—have carried their burden under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23;
accordingly, their motion is due to be granted, subject to a few caveats.
I. JURISDICTION AND VENUE
Subject-matter jurisdiction is proper under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1367, and
the parties do not contest personal jurisdiction or venue.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
“The class action is ‘an exception to the usual rule that litigation is conducted
by and on behalf of the individual named parties only.’” Comcast Corp. v. Behrend,
133 S. Ct. 1426, 1432 (2013) (quoting Califano v. Yamasaki, 442 U.S. 682, 700–01
(1979)). To avail himself of this exception, a plaintiff seeking class certification
bears the burden of proving that he has satisfied the four Rule 23(a) prerequisites—
often shorthanded as numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy—and that
the class action will meet one of the three requirements of 23(b). Fed. R. Civ. P.
23(a), (b); see Brown v. Electrolux Home Prods., Inc., 817 F.3d 1225, 1233 (11th
Cir. 2016) (“All else being equal, the presumption is against class certification
because class actions are an exception to our constitutional tradition of individual
litigation.”). The burden is one of proof, not pleading, Brown, 817 F.3d at 1233, and
requires the district court to undertake a “rigorous analysis” to determine the
propriety of certification, Gen. Tel. Co. of Sw. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 161 (1982).
Although this rigorous analysis frequently “entail[s] some overlap with the merits of
the plaintiff’s underlying claim,” Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338, 351
(2011), “the district court can consider the merits ‘only’ to the extent ‘they are
2
relevant to determining whether the Rule 23 prerequisites for class certification are
satisfied,’” Brown, 817 F.3d at 1234 (quoting Amgen Inc. v. Conn. Ret. Plans &
Trust Funds, 133 S. Ct. 1184, 1195 (2013)).
The Named Plaintiffs seek certification of a damages class under Rule
23(b)(3). As a result, along with the 23(a) prerequisites, they must also prove “that
the questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any
questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to
other available methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.” Fed.
R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3). All of this proof must be made by a preponderance of the
evidence.1 Stein v. Monterey Fin. Servs., Inc., No. 2:13-CV-1336-AKK, 2017 WL
412874, at *4 (N.D. Ala. Jan. 31, 2017); In re Delta/AirTran Baggage Fee Antitrust
1 Neither the Supreme Court nor the Eleventh Circuit has set an explicit preponderance-ofthe-evidence standard. Most of the circuits to have passed on the question have laid a
preponderance burden on the class movant. Brown v. Nucor Corp., 785 F.3d 895, 931 (4th Cir.
2015); Messner v. Northshore Univ. Health Sys., 669 F.3d 802, 811 (7th Cir. 2012); Alaska Elec.
Pension Fund v. Flowserve Corp., 572 F.3d 221, 228 (5th Cir. 2009); In re Hydrogen Peroxide
Antitrust Litig., 552 F.3d 305, 307 (3d Cir. 2008); Teamsters Local 445 v. Bombardier, Inc., 546
F.3d 196, 202 (2d Cir. 2008). The minority view, championed by the Sixth Circuit, instead reads
the “rigorous analysis” language in Falcon as setting an evidentiary standard unique to Rule 23.
Gooch v. Life Investors Ins. Co. of Am., 672 F.3d 402, 418 n.8 (6th Cir. 2012).
The majority view has it right. Requiring a preponderance falls in line with the Supreme
Court’s apparent weighing of the evidence in Wal-Mart, 564 U.S. at 353–59. See Anthony F. Fata,
Doomsday Delayed: How the Court’s Party-Neutral Clarification of Class Certification Standards
in Wal-Mart v. Dukes Actually Helps Plaintiffs, 62 DePaul L. Rev. 674, 681 (2013) (reading the
Wal-Mart Court’s analysis to implicitly apply a preponderance standard). Moreover, the
preponderance standard offers well-worn, concrete guideposts to the trial court; a nebulous
rigorous-analysis standard could lead to unpredictable decisions that vary from district to district.
Accordingly, by performing a “rigorous analysis,” Falcon, 457 U.S. at 161, the court determines
whether the Named Plaintiffs have proved compliance with Rule 23 by a preponderance of the
evidence.
3
Litig., --- F.R.D. ---, No. CV 1:09-MD-2089-TCB, 2016 WL 3770957, at *21 (N.D.
Ga. July 12, 2016).
III. BACKGROUND
A.
Facts and Procedural History
Flowers Hospital operates a medical laboratory where it tests blood samples
taken from hospital patients and so-called “non-hospital” patients from a couple
dozen “clinics, nursing homes and physicians” in the surrounding area. In June
2013, the Hospital hired Kamarian Millender to work in the lab as a phlebotomist.
Before long, Millender learned that non-hospital patient records—chock full of
personal information ranging from birth dates to social security numbers—were kept
in unlocked filing cabinets in a back hallway immediately accessible from the lab.
(Docs. # 70-1 at 13–162; 70-3 at 7.) To Millender, these filing cabinets were a
goldmine.
Demonstrating all the restraint of a child left unattended in a candy shop,
Millender made off with a bundle of folders. (Docs. # 70-2 at 10–11; 70-3 at 7.)
Millender dug through the personal information in the patient records and, with the
help of an accomplice, filed at least 124 fraudulent federal tax returns for tax years
2012 and 2013. This scheme eventually came to light, and on February 25, 2014,
All references in this opinion to page numbers are to those pages assigned by CM/ECF
as opposed to the page numbers generated by the parties.
2
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the Henry County Sheriff’s Office apprehended Millender with fifty-four patient
records in hand.3
Later that night, Flowers got word of Millender’s arrest and began
investigating the heist. An internal audit uncovered five missing daily file folders.
(Doc. # 70-2 at 10–11.) Although the contents vary from one file folder to another,
each folder typically contains between 100 and 150 patient records; a loss of five
daily folders therefore reflects a loss of anywhere from 500 to 750 patient records.
Along with these hundreds of stolen records, Flowers received from the IRS and
other federal agencies a list of additional identities that may have been stolen by
Millender.
Recognizing the scope of Millender’s crimes, Flowers took action. Between
April 8, 2014, and August 29, 2014, the Hospital sent letters notifying 1,208 nonhospital patients that their personal information may have been compromised. The
Hospital maintains that an overabundance of caution led it to draft an overlong
mailing list—that the list reflected a healthy respect for HIPAA,4 not the actual
extent of the data breach. The Named Plaintiffs urge that, because letters were sent
3 Millender’s accomplice, however, remains on the lam; his identity and whereabouts are
as yet unknown.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. See generally 45 C.F.R. pt. 164
(regulations implementing HIPAA’s privacy protections).
4
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to all patients whose records could not be located, the 1,208 names on the mailing
list illustrate the maximal extent of Millender’s theft.
On May 5, 2014, Plaintiffs Bradley Smith and Julie McGee filed a class-action
complaint against Flowers, alleging violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
(“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., negligence, and invasion of privacy. A month
and a half later, the complaint was amended to name three additional Plaintiffs—
Adam Parker, Sandra Hall, and Jack Whittle, rounding out the five Named
Plaintiffs—and to add claims for negligence per se and breach of contract. A second
amended complaint followed on September 30, 2014, and Flowers moved to dismiss
two weeks later. After the parties fully briefed the motion (Docs. # 27, 29, 30), the
court inquired sua sponte into the Named Plaintiffs’ standing and ordered further
briefing on the issue (Doc. # 32). Once the parties weighed in (Docs. # 33, 34, 37,
38), the Magistrate Judge issued a Report and Recommendation finding standing,
dismissing the invasion-of-privacy claim, and otherwise denying Flowers’s motion
to dismiss (Doc. # 39).
The Recommendation was adopted over Flowers’s
objection, and the matter proceeded to discovery on the question of class
certification. (Doc. # 41.) On August 29, 2016, the Named Plaintiffs moved to
certify a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3).5 (Doc. # 68.)
The Named Plaintiffs only seek certification of their state-law claims; their motion for
class certification makes no mention of the FCRA claim. (See Doc. # 69 at 14–22.) The court has
5
6
That motion has been fully briefed by the parties, and is before the court today.
(Docs. # 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77.)
B.
The Class Definition
The Named Plaintiffs seek to certify the following class (the “putative class”):
All persons whose personal identifying information (PII) or protected
health information (PHI) was stolen from Flowers Hospital by
Kamarian Millender and/or his accomplices. Excluded from the Class
are the (i) owners, officers, directors, employees, agents and/or
representatives of Defendant and its parent entities, subsidiaries,
affiliates, successors, and/or or [sic] assigns, and (ii) the Court, Court
personnel, and members of their immediate families.
(Doc. # 69 at 4–5.)
C.
The Named Plaintiffs
Because Rule 23 looks to the relation between the Named Plaintiffs and the
putative class, each Plaintiff’s experience in the data breach warrants a brief
summary. Of particular note is the Notice of Privacy Practices (“NPP,” or the
“Notice”), a document that Flowers sent to all patients admitted to the hospital. (See
Doc. # 70-14.) The Named Plaintiffs base their claim for breach of express contract
on the Notice, asserting that the NPP “constitutes a binding contract setting forth
Flowers Hospital’s obligation to maintain [patient] confidentiality.” (Doc. # 69 at
given thought to declining jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(2), but for now will retain
supplemental jurisdiction.
7
18.) Accordingly, receipt of the Notice is relevant to whether each Plaintiff satisfies
Rule 23.6
1.
Bradley Smith
Bradley Smith had blood drawn at West Main Medical, a physician’s office
in Dothan, around September 2013. Although Flowers’s laboratory commonly
tested blood samples taken by local clinics, there is no evidence in the record that
the lab did blood work for West Main. Moreover, Patti Hatcher, the Hospital’s
Compliance and Privacy Officer at the time of the data breach, testified by affidavit
that Mr. Smith “had not been a reference lab patient, and therefore had no records in
the filing cabinets from which Millender stole records.” (Doc. # 74-1 at 3.) Mr.
Smith has also received care at Flowers Hospital, but has not been a patient there
since the 1990s.
In the spring of 2014, Mr. Smith learned from the IRS that a fraudulent tax
return had been filed in his name. Mr. Smith claims that he incurred accounting
expenses and suffered emotional distress as a result of the identity theft. He did not
receive the NPP.
For clarity’s sake, it should be emphasized that the NPP is different from the data breach
notification letters sent by Flowers. The former is the basis of Plaintiffs’ express-contract claim;
the latter is the HIPAA-mandated notification sent by Flowers to non-hospital patients whose
records may have been compromised by Millender.
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2.
Julie S. McGee
Julie McGee had blood drawn in 2012 by Flowers and on January 7, 2014, by
Dr. James Butler, a Flowers affiliate; she was also admitted to Flowers as a hospital
patient on November 29, 2007. The Hospital has controverted this testimony: In
her affidavit, Ms. Hatcher claims that Ms. McGee “had not been a reference lab
patient, and therefore had no records in the filing cabinets from which Millender
stole records.” (Doc. # 74-1 at 3.)
In April 2014, the McGees’ tax preparer informed Ms. McGee’s husband that
the IRS rejected the couple’s 2013 tax return after determining that Ms. McGee’s
Social Security number had been used to file an earlier tax return. Ms. McGee, an
hourly employee, had to take a day off work to get her financial ducks in a row after
the identity theft. Her debit card was compromised eight months later, but Ms.
McGee does not claim any out-of-pocket expenses resulting from the fraudulent
charges. Ms. McGee previously had fraudulent purchases charged to her debit card
around 2010, but otherwise has not been a victim of identity theft. Ms. McGee
received a copy of the NPP, but did not receive a notification letter from Flowers
after the data breach.
9
3.
Adam Parker
In 2013, Mr. Parker had blood drawn at Allsouth Urgent Care in Dothan. His
blood sample was tested at Flowers. Other than the blood testing in 2013, Mr. Parker
had not been a patient at Flowers since roughly 2010.
Mr. Parker learned in February 2014 that a fraudulent tax return for tax year
2013 had been filed in his name. Alarmed by the theft of his identity, Mr. Parker
met with the IRS and the Dothan Police Department and ultimately purchased credit
monitoring from Equifax in April or May of 2014. Mr. Parker’s tax return was
delayed, without interest, until the summer of 2014. (Docs. # 73-9 at 22, 24; 77-2.)
Other than the fraudulent tax return, Mr. Parker has never been a victim of identity
theft. Mr. Parker did not receive the NPP, but did receive the data breach notification
letter.
4.
Sandra Hall 7
Ms. Hall was treated at Flowers Hospital in March 2013 and had lab work
done there sometime between 2013 and 2015. In April 2014, Mr. Hall learned that
a fraudulent tax return had been filed using Ms. Hall’s Social Security number. Ms.
7 Sandra Hall passed away after this suit was filed. Her husband, Michael Hall, presumably
will be substituted for Ms. Hall as a plaintiff, but no suggestion of death or motion to substitute
has yet been filed. Despite Ms. Hall’s death, Mr. Hall will be able to maintain her causes of action
upon his substitution. Ala. Code § 6-5-462; see also King v. Nat’l Spa & Pool Inst., Inc., 607 So.
2d 1241, 1246 (Ala. 1992) (“[W]e hold that the survival statute, Ala. Code § 6-5-462, means
exactly what its plain language states, that ‘all personal claims upon which an action has been filed
. . . survive in favor of and against personal representatives.’”) (emphasis and alteration in
original).
10
Hall received the NPP and a data breach notification letter from Flowers. The parties
dispute the amount of damages suffered by Ms. Hall as a result of her delayed tax
return (compare Doc. # 69 at 13 with Doc. # 72 at 13)—a merits question that need
not be decided before certifying the class. See Brown, 817 F.3d at 1234 (forbidding
inquiry into a merits issue unless the issue is “relevant to determining whether the
Rule 23 prerequisites for class certification are satisfied”) (citation omitted).
5.
Jack Whittle
While suffering a bout of pneumonia, Mr. Whittle was admitted to Flowers
Hospital in July 2013. He had blood drawn “several times” on follow-up visits with
Dr. Harris, his Flowers-affiliated primary care physician, but is not sure when these
visits took place. (Doc. # 73-6 at 6–8.) Although Mr. Whittle knows that his blood
was not tested at Dr. Harris’s office, he does not know where or when that blood was
tested.
When he tried to file his 2013 taxes, Mr. Whittle learned from his accountant
that a tax return had already been filed in his name. Later trips to the IRS office in
Dothan revealed that these fraudulent returns had been filed using Mr. Whittle’s
Social Security number. Flowers sent Mr. Whittle a notification letter, warning him
that his personal information was likely compromised by Millender, but now claims
that Mr. Whittle’s lab records were left undisturbed. Mr. Whittle had never before
been a victim of identity theft, and received the NPP from Flowers.
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IV. DISCUSSION
Class certification hinges on the relation between the Named Plaintiffs, the
putative class, and the evidence that each Plaintiff (whether named or a putative class
member) must adduce to prevail on the claims to be certified. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
23. Having already examined the Named Plaintiffs and the putative class, the court
turns to the claims to be certified before moving on to the legal standards governing
class certification.
A.
The Claims
1.
Breach of Implied Contract
Alabama law imposes on physicians an “implied contract of confidentiality”
that may be breached by “the unauthorized release of medical records.” Crippen v.
Charter Southland Hosp., Inc., 534 So. 2d 286, 288 (Ala. 1988) (citing Horne v.
Patton, 287 So. 2d 824, 831–32 (Ala. 1973)). To prevail on this claim, the Named
Plaintiffs must prove an unauthorized disclosure by Flowers of confidential
“information acquired during the physician-patient relationship.” Mull v. String, 448
So. 2d 952, 953 (Ala. 1984). And, because the limited case law does not clearly
extend this implied contract to healthcare providers rather than just physicians, the
Named Plaintiffs likely would also have to prove that Flowers stood in a physician-
12
patient relationship with the non-hospital patients.8 See Hollander v. Nichols, 19 So.
3d 184, 190–92 (Ala. 2009); Crippen, 534 So. 2d at 288; Mull, 448 So. 2d at 953;
Horne, 287 So. 2d at 831–32. To that effect, the Named Plaintiffs intend to offer
evidence that (1) a physician-patient role existed between Flowers and the nonhospital patients, and (2) the putative class’s personal information was compromised
in the data breach.
Alabama law generally will not imply a contract if an express contract already
deals with the same subject matter. Vardaman v. Florence City Bd. of Educ., 544
So. 2d 962, 965 (Ala. 1989). Accordingly, if the NPP constitutes a valid contract,
the implied-contract claim is available only to those putative class members who did
not receive the NPP. As detailed below, this divergence between the implied and
express contract claims requires certification of two subclasses of Plaintiffs. See
Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(5).
2.
Breach of Express Contract
The Named Plaintiffs claim that a contract of confidentiality arose from the
NPP and was breached by Millender’s theft of the patient records. To recover for
this alleged breach, the Named Plaintiffs must prove the following four elements:
“(1) a valid contract binding the parties; (2) the plaintiff’s performance under the
8 As discussed in Part III.A., supra, non-hospital patients are those individuals, receiving
treatment from a third party, who had blood (or other samples) sent by that third party to be tested
by Flowers in the Hospital’s reference lab.
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contract; (3) the defendant’s nonperformance; and (4) resulting damages.” Shaffer
v. Regions Fin. Corp., 29 So. 3d 872, 880 (Ala. 2009). The Named Plaintiffs intend
to prove this claim by offering a copy of the NPP and evidence of the data breach.
3.
Negligence
A prima facie case of negligence under Alabama law requires proof of four
elements: “(1) a duty to a foreseeable plaintiff; (2) a breach of that duty; (3)
proximate causation and (4) damage or injury.” Albert v. Hsu, 602 So. 2d 895, 897
(Ala. 1992). The Named Plaintiffs argue that duty, breach, and causation are all
susceptible to common proof—specifically, that “Flowers Hospital breached the
applicable standard of care by failing to safeguard their PII or PHI,” proximately
causing the putative class’s personal information to be compromised. (Doc. # 69 at
21.) Proof of damages, on the other hand, will require some individualized inquiry.
4.
Negligence Per Se
A plaintiff may recover for negligence per se under Alabama law if he proves
(1) that the statute the defendant is charged with violating was enacted
to protect a class of persons to which the plaintiff belonged; (2) that the
plaintiff’s injury was the kind of injury contemplated by the statute; (3)
that the defendant violated the statute; and (4) that the defendant’s
violation of the statute proximately caused the plaintiff’s injury.
Cook’s Pest Control, Inc. v. Rebar, 28 So. 3d 716, 726 (Ala. 2009). The Named
Plaintiffs argue that they can establish Flowers’s negligence per se by class-wide
14
proof of HIPAA’s requirements and Flowers’s failure to safeguard the putative
class’s personal information.
B.
Adequacy of Definition and Ascertainability of Class Members
Beyond compliance with Rule 23, the Eleventh Circuit requires class movants
under section (b)(3) to demonstrate “that the proposed class [is] ‘adequately defined
and clearly ascertainable.’” Little v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., 691 F.3d 1302, 1304 (11th
Cir. 2012) (quoting DeBremaecker v. Short, 433 F.2d 733, 734 (5th Cir. 1970)).
Flowers argues unpersuasively that the putative class fails these threshold tests.
Flowers maintains that the putative class is inadequately defined because the
class is broad enough to “include[ ] class members [who] do not have Article III
standing.” (Doc. # 72 at 19.) Class members, Flowers continues, lack standing if
their identities were “merely stolen” rather than affirmatively “misused.” (Doc. # 72
at 19.) The court has already rejected this argument. (Docs. # 39 at 14–21 (report
and recommendation); 41 at 2–4 (adopting report and recommendation).) And while
the Hospital was invited to “reassert its standing challenge on the evidence” (Doc.
# 41 at 4), the lack of merits discovery to date makes inappropriate a final decision
on standing at this time. Cf. Carriuolo v. Gen. Motors Co., 823 F.3d 977, 988 (11th
Cir. 2016) (“[T]he certification of a class is always provisional in nature until the
final resolution of the case.”); Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(1)(C) (authorizing the
“alter[ation] or amend[ment]” of a class-certification order at any time “before final
15
judgment”). Accordingly, the court finds that the putative class is adequately
defined.
A class is clearly ascertainable if there is some “administratively feasible
method by which class members can be identified.” Karhu v. Vital Pharm., Inc.,
621 F. App’x 945, 947 (11th Cir. 2015). This identification process should turn on
objective criteria, be “manageable,” and be devoid of “much, if any, individual
inquiry.” Bussey v. Macon Cty. Greyhound Park, Inc., 562 F. App’x 782, 787 (11th
Cir. 2014) (citation omitted). Flowers marshals two principal arguments against
ascertainability but, again, neither convinces.
First, the Hospital claims that the putative class cannot be ascertained until
Plaintiffs prove that each patient record was actually stolen rather than misplaced by
the Hospital. (Doc. # 72 at 23–24.) Such a stance paints the Hospital as an
institution whose sloppiness is matched only by its bad luck. It asks the court to
assume that the missing records were misplaced by happenstance, and that by
happenstance their loss was uncovered only on investigation of Millender’s theft.
Second, working from the assumption that the class will be limited to those “whose
identities were actually misused,” the Hospital argues that looking into the actual
misuse of putative class members’ personal information would require an
individualized examination of each class member. (Doc. # 72 at 24); see Bussey,
562 F. App’x at 787 (tying ascertainability to a relative lack of individual inquiry).
16
But Flowers’s actual-misuse requirement remains unpersuasive. The Eleventh
Circuit has not required such a showing to prove standing, and the court will not
impose that requirement today.
As a result, the Hospital’s concerns about
individualized inquiries are misplaced and irrelevant. The putative class is both
adequately defined and clearly ascertainable, so the focus turns to Rule 23.
C.
Rule 23(a) Prerequisites
The Named Plaintiffs shoulder the burden of proving that the putative class
satisfies Rule 23(a)’s four prerequisites. Brown, 817 F.3d at 1233. They have met
this burden of proof, as discussed further below.
1.
Numerosity
Rule 23(a)(1) requires class movants to prove that their proposed class “is so
numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(1).
This numerosity requirement does not lend itself to a bright-line rule. Cox v. Am.
Cast Iron Pipe Co., 784 F.2d 1546, 1553 (11th Cir. 1986). But the Eleventh Circuit
has given its blessing to a rule of thumb: A class of more than forty generally passes
muster, and a class of less than twenty-one generally does not. Id. However, because
Rule 23(a)(1) looks to the impracticability of joinder, these numbers vary from case
to case. Compare Kilgo v. Bowman Transp., Inc., 789 F.2d 859, 878 (11th Cir. 1986)
(affirming 31-member class) with Crawford v. W. Elec. Co., 614 F.2d 1300, 1305
17
(5th Cir. 1980)9 (“We certainly cannot say that a class of 34 satisfies the numerosity
requirements as a matter of law.”).
The Named Plaintiffs claim that, in light of the 1,208 missing lab records and
Millender’s 124 fraudulent tax returns, numerosity “cannot be credibly disputed.”
(Doc. # 69 at 25.) But Flowers, in a return to its chorus of “actual misuse,” does
just that. The Hospital claims that “only twenty-five individuals could have been
victimized by Millender.” (Doc. # 72 at 27.) This number is doubly flawed. First,
it excludes the ninety-nine tax returns filed in 2012, instead counting only the
twenty-five returns filed in 2013. Flowers argues that, because Millender began
work in June 2012—after the April 15 tax deadline—he could not have used the
Hospital’s records to file any 2012 returns. This assumes that Millender, while
trampling over patient-privacy and tax-fraud laws, was stopped in his tracks by the
filing deadline. Though creative, the complete lack of supporting evidence dooms
this speculative argument. Second, the Hospital presumes that the only Flowers
patients with a cause of action are those who can prove that Millender stole their
personal information. But the Hospital’s lax security and the resulting data breach
could give rise to a cause of action even without proof of Millender’s role. After all,
Millender acted with an accomplice who is still on the loose and could be using class
9 Precedent from the former Fifth Circuit binds the court if the decision was handed down
before the close of business on September 30, 1981. Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206,
1207 (11th Cir. 1981).
18
members’ personal information to file more tax returns; victims of the accomplice’s
tax fraud have the same cause of action as do Millender’s victims. Flowers’s
argument therefore does not persuade.
To be clear, the Named Plaintiffs have not shown exactly how many putative
class members were affected by the data breach. But they have proved that the class
will most likely number in the hundreds, making it big enough that joinder would be
impracticable. And even assuming, arguendo, that the class is limited to the seventythree victims identified in Millender’s plea agreement, the Named Plaintiffs have
easily satisfied the numerosity requirement.
2.
Commonality
The 23(a)(2) commonality prong “requires the plaintiff to demonstrate that
the class members ‘have suffered the same injury.’” Wal-Mart, 564 U.S. at 349–50
(quoting Falcon, 457 U.S. at 157). This requirement is not satisfied by alleging that
the putative class members “all suffered a violation of the same provision of law.”
Id. at 350. Rather, “[t]heir claims must depend upon a common contention,” and the
common contention “must be of such a nature that it is capable of classwide
resolution—which means that determination of its truth or falsity will resolve an
issue that is central to the validity of each one of the claims in one stroke.” Id.
Although commonality overlaps with predominance, Rule 23(a)(2) sets a much
lower standard than Rule 23(b)(3). Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591,
19
623–24 (1997) (recognizing that “the predominance criterion is far more
demanding” than commonality); Jackson v. Motel 6 Multipurpose, Inc., 130 F.3d
999, 1005 (11th Cir. 1997) (“The predominance inquiry . . . is far more demanding
than Rule 23(a)’s commonality requirement.”) (citation and internal quotation marks
omitted).
Although Flowers does not contest commonality, its concession does not
relieve the court of its duty to verify the Named Plaintiffs’ compliance with Rule 23.
Falcon, 457 U.S. at 160 (“[A]ctual, not presumed, conformance with Rule 23(a)
remains . . . indispensable.”). Accordingly, the commonality spotlight moves to the
Named Plaintiffs’ four causes of action.
Plaintiffs’ claim for breach of express contract hinges on an alleged form
contract entered into by certain members of the putative class. The effect and terms
of the purported contract are common points sufficient to carry the first claim past
Rule 23(a)(2). See Kleiner v. First Nat’l Bank of Atlanta, 97 F.R.D. 683, 692 (N.D.
Ga. 1983) (“[C]laims arising from interpretations of a form contract appear to
present the classic case for treatment as a class action.”). The implied-contract claim
similarly passes muster, as the alleged formation and breach of the contract arise
from common facts—namely, Millender’s records heist and the relationship between
Flowers and the putative class members. As for the negligence and negligence per
se claims, Flowers’s duty to the putative class members stems from a common fact
20
(the performance of blood tests in the laboratory); Millender’s heist, which allegedly
breached that duty, provides a further common point. In light of the low bar set by
Rule 23(a)(2), this is enough for the Named Plaintiffs to prove commonality.
3.
Typicality
In Rule 23(a)(3), the Named Plaintiffs hit their first speed bump. “Typicality
measures whether a sufficient nexus exists between the claims of the named
representatives and those of the class at large.” Vega v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., 564
F.3d 1256, 1275 (11th Cir. 2009) (quoting Busby v. JRHBW Realty, Inc., 513 F.3d
1314, 1322 (11th Cir. 2008)) (alteration omitted).
Although typicality and
commonality are closely related, typicality focuses less on the class in its entirety
and more on the relationship between the class and the representative plaintiffs.
“[T]raditionally, commonality refers to the group characteristics of the class as a
whole, while typicality refers to the individual characteristics of the named plaintiff
in relation to the class.” Id. (citing Piazza v. Ebsco Indus., Inc., 273 F.3d 1341, 1346
(11th Cir. 2001)) (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted).
“A class
representative must possess the same interest and suffer the same injury as the class
members in order to be typical under Rule 23(a)(3).” Murray v. Auslander, 244 F.3d
807, 811 (11th Cir. 2001) (citing Prado-Steiman v. Bush, 221 F.3d 1266, 1279 (11th
Cir. 2000)). A putative class will clear the typicality hurdle “if the claims or defenses
of the class and the class representative arise from the same event or pattern or
21
practice and are based on the same legal theory.” Kornberg v. Carnival Cruise Lines,
Inc., 741 F.2d 1332, 1337 (11th Cir. 1984).
Flowers raises three objections to typicality, but only the third objection
withstands scrutiny. First, the Hospital reasserts its argument on standing, see Part
IV.B, supra, which remains unconvincing. Second, it claims that “divergent”
claims for damages preclude typicality. (Doc. # 72 at 25.) But damages that vary
from one class member to the next do not necessarily make for an atypical class. See
Kornberg, 741 F.2d at 1337 (holding that disparate damages claims did not make a
class atypical where “[t]he cause of action ar[o]se[ ] from a single event and there
[wa]s no variation in legal theory”). Rather, so long as the Named Plaintiffs and
putative class members “have an interest in prevailing on similar legal claims,” a
“difference[ ] in the amount of damages claimed” will not defeat typicality. Wright
v. Circuit City Stores, Inc., 201 F.R.D. 526, 543 (N.D. Ala. 2001). Such is the case
here: From the Named Plaintiffs to the putative class members, every Plaintiff in
this case seeks redress for the theft of their personal information in the data breach.
Although the class members’ damages are not identical, the facts and legal theories
shared by their claims suffice to show typicality.
With its third objection, Flowers hits paydirt. The Hospital attacks the
typicality of Mr. Smith and Ms. McGee, claiming that their personal information
was not compromised in the data breach. (Doc. # 72 at 29–30.) As proof, the
22
Hospital offers testimony that neither Mr. Smith nor Ms. McGee had been patients
at the Flowers laboratory and that, therefore, the two Plaintiffs “had no records in
the filing cabinets from which Millender stole records.” (Doc. # 74-1 at 3.) If so,
then both Plaintiffs would lack a cause of action against Flowers and be atypical of
the putative class. Because certification depends on the answer to this factual
question, the court considers whether Mr. Smith and Ms. McGee have carried their
burden of proving typicality. Brown, 817 F.3d at 1237 (“A district court must decide
all questions of fact and law that bear on the propriety of class certification.”) (citing
Comcast, 133 S. Ct. at 1432) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Mr. Smith has failed to prove that he had been a patient of the Flowers
reference lab. His supporting evidence shows that he was a patient at West Main
Medical, but nothing in the record establishes any connection between West Main
and Flowers. (See Doc. # 73-7 at 20–21.) This scant evidentiary showing falls short
of the preponderance standard, especially in the face of Ms. Hatcher’s testimony that
Mr. Smith was never a patient at the reference lab. (Doc. # 74-1 at 3.)
Ms. McGee, however, presents a more compelling case. Ms. McGee has
adduced evidence that she had blood drawn by a Flowers-affiliated doctor on
January 7, 2014, and at Flowers itself in 2012. (Docs. # 70-9 at 4–5; 73-12 at 10.)
Ms. McGee was also a patient at Flowers Hospital in 2007. In response, the Hospital
offers Ms. Hatcher’s affidavit as proof that Ms. McGee was never a lab patient.
23
(Doc. # 74-1 at 3.) In view of each party’s evidence, the court finds that Ms. McGee
has satisfied her burden of proof and is typical of the putative class under Rule
23(a)(3). Ms. McGee has credibly testified that she had her blood tested by Flowers
or its affiliates in 2012 and 2014. While Flowers has controverted this testimony by
way of Ms. Hatcher’s affidavit, it raises the court’s eyebrows to see that the
affidavit—signed four months after Ms. McGee’s deposition—fails to account for
the doctors’ visits detailed by Ms. McGee.
Absent such an explanation or
corroborating medical records, Ms. Hatcher’s affidavit presents an incomplete
rebuttal of Ms. McGee’s testimony. Accordingly, because Ms. McGee has proven
her typicality by a preponderance of the evidence, she may continue in her role as a
representative plaintiff; Mr. Smith, who has not met his burden of proof, cannot so
continue. 10
The Hospital also takes issue with Mr. Whittle’s inclusion in the class.11
Although Mr. Whittle received a notification letter after the data breach, Flowers
now claims a later investigation of its records found that Mr. Whittle’s files remained
intact. (Doc. # 69 at 38.) But Mr. Whittle has introduced proof that tends to show
Because Mr. Smith may not proceed as a representative Plaintiff, the collective term
“Named Plaintiffs” hereinafter refers only to the four remaining representative Plaintiffs: Ms.
McGee, Ms. Hall, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Whittle.
10
11 Although Flowers styles this argument as one related to causation, it works from the
same premise as the typicality arguments against Mr. Smith and Ms. McGee and therefore is best
addressed as such.
24
that his records were at least compromised, if not actually carried off by Millender:
Mr. Whittle was a non-hospital patient, whose records were left unsecured in
Millender’s thieving grounds, and who suffered from identity theft for the first time
in his life shortly after his interaction with Flowers. And the court hesitates to give
too much weight to the Hospital’s change in position, given its self-serving nature
and post-litigation timing. Accordingly, Mr. Whittle is typical of the class and may
continue in his representative role.12
Similarly, although not squarely addressed by the parties, the mutually
exclusive nature of the implied and express breach-of-contract claims bears on the
typicality of the Named Plaintiffs. Because Alabama law will not imply a contract
that deals with the subject matter of an express contract, Vardaman, 544 So. 2d at
965, if the NPP forms a valid contract, then the NPP recipients cannot have an
implied contract with Flowers. Thus, the Named Plaintiffs who received the NPP—
Ms. McGee, Ms. Hall, and Mr. Whittle—are atypical of putative class members who
did not receive the Notice; similarly, the non-recipient Named Plaintiff—Mr.
Parker—is atypical of the class members who received the NPP. To handle the
discrepancies between the implied and express contractual claims, the putative class
Once again, it should be noted that the class certification decision may be altered or
amended at any time until final judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(1)(C). If merits discovery unearths
evidence that proves Mr. Whittle’s atypicality—or any other flaw in the class or the Named
Plaintiffs—Flowers can move to decertify the class or to remove him as a class representative.
12
25
will be divided into two subclasses. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(5) (authorizing use of
subclasses “[w]hen appropriate”). The first, the “express-contract subclass,” will
consist of NPP recipients. The second, the “implied-contract subclass,” will consist
of non-recipients.
4.
Adequacy
Rule 24(a)(4) mandates that “the representative parties . . . fairly and
adequately protect the interests of the class.” The adequacy prong, like commonality
and typicality, serves to protect the silent class members whose rights will be
adjudicated in absentia.
The adequacy-of-representation requirement “tend[s] to merge” with
the commonality and typicality criteria of Rule 23(a), which “serve as
guideposts for determining whether maintenance of a class action is
economical and whether the named plaintiff’s claim and the class claim
are so interrelated that the interests of the class members will be fairly
and adequately protected in their absence.”
Amchem Prods., Inc., 521 U.S. at 626 n.20 (quoting Falcon, 457 U.S. at 157 n.13).
The Eleventh Circuit reads Rule 23(a)(4) to “encompass[ ] two separate inquiries:
(1) whether any substantial conflicts of interest exist between the representatives and
the class; and (2) whether the representatives will adequately prosecute the action.”
Valley Drug Co. v. Geneva Pharm., Inc., 350 F.3d 1181, 1189 (11th Cir. 2003)
(quoting In re HealthSouth Corp. Sec. Litig., 213 F.R.D. 447, 460–61 (N.D. Ala.
2003)).
26
The living Named Plaintiffs have signed declarations that they are free from
any known conflicts of interest and committed to prosecuting the class action.
(Docs. # 70-17; 70-18; 70-19.) Moreover, the class definition excludes those with a
financial stake in Flowers and its parent entities, further reducing the likelihood of a
conflict of interest. (Doc. # 69 at 4–5.) As pointed out by Plaintiffs’ counsel, the
Named Plaintiffs’ willingness to attend depositions and provide discovery
demonstrates that they will adequately prosecute the class action.
Plaintiffs’
counsel’s history of class-action work also helps show that the unnamed class
members’ interests will be adequately protected. (See generally Doc. # 70-20.)
Flowers argues that Mr. Smith and Ms. McGee are atypical and hence unable to
adequately represent the putative class. But having found that the Named Plaintiffs
other than Mr. Smith have proved 23(a)(3) typicality, the court finds that these four
Plaintiffs meet 23(a)(4)’s adequacy requirement as well. These four Plaintiffs have
therefore satisfied Rule 23(a), and the analysis turns to Rule 23(b)(3).
D.
Rule 23(b)(3) Conditions
“Framed for situations in which ‘class-action treatment is not as clearly called
for’ as it is in Rule 23(b)(1) and (b)(2) situations, Rule 23(b)(3) permits certification
where class suit ‘may nevertheless be convenient and desirable.’” Amchem Prods.,
Inc., 521 U.S. at 615 (citation omitted). Because it allows class actions to be
maintained in less traditional contexts, Rule 23 imposes heightened requirements on
27
class movants who wish to proceed under section (b)(3). Along with the 23(a)
prerequisites, a movant under 23(b)(3) must make two additional showings: (1) “that
the questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any
questions affecting only individual members,” a condition referred to as
predominance; and (2) “that a class action is superior to other available methods for
fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy,” also referred to as superiority.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3). Predominance and superiority are addressed in turn.
1.
Predominance
The predominance inquiry requires a claim-by-claim analysis of the Named
Plaintiffs’ four causes of action. Rutstein v. Avis Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc., 211 F.3d
1228, 1234 (11th Cir. 2000) (citing McCarthy v. Kleindienst, 741 F.2d 1406, 1412
(D.C. Cir. 1984)). The analysis “take[s] into account ‘the claims, defenses, relevant
facts, and applicable substantive law’ to assess the degree to which resolution of the
classwide issues will further each individual class member’s claim against the
defendant.” Klay v. Humana, Inc., 382 F.3d 1241, 1254 (11th Cir. 2004), abrogated
in part on other grounds, Bridge v. Phoenix Bond & Indemnity Co., 553 U.S. 639
(2008) (internal citation omitted) (quoting Castano v. Am. Tobacco Co., 84 F.3d 734,
744 (5th Cir. 1996)). Rule 23(b)(3) does not require “that all questions of fact or
law be common, but” rather requires “only that some questions are common and that
they predominate over individual questions.” Id. (quoting In re Theragenics Corp.
28
Secs. Litig., 205 F.R.D. 687, 697 (N.D. Ga. 2002)); see also Amgen Inc., 133 S. Ct.
at 1196 (“Rule 23(b)(3), however, does not require a plaintiff seeking class
certification to prove that each element of her claim is susceptible to classwide proof.
What the rule does require is that common questions predominate over any questions
affecting only individual class members.”) (emphasis in original) (alterations and
internal quotation marks omitted). “An individual question is one where members
of a proposed class will need to present evidence that varies from member to
member, while a common question is one where the same evidence will suffice for
each member to make a prima facie showing or the issue is susceptible to
generalized, class-wide proof.” Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. 1036,
1045 (2016) (alteration, citation, and internal quotation marks omitted).
“[P]redominance is a qualitative rather than a quantitative concept” that “is
not determined simply by counting noses.” Brown, 817 F.3d at 1239 (quoting Parko
v. Shell Oil Co., 739 F.3d 1083, 1085 (7th Cir. 2014)).
“Whether an issue
predominates can only be determined after considering what value the resolution of
the class-wide issue will have in each class member’s underlying cause of action.”
Rutstein, 211 F.3d at 1234. “When one or more of the central issues in the action
are common to the class and can be said to predominate, the action may be
considered proper under Rule 23(b)(3) even though other important matters will
have to be tried separately, such as damages or some affirmative defenses peculiar
29
to some individual class members.” Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. at 1045. The court
therefore analyzes each cause of action qualitatively to determine the value of
classwide resolution of the component issues.
a.
Breach of Implied Contract
To prevail on their implied-contract claim, the Named Plaintiffs must show
that (1) a physician-patient relationship existed between Flowers and the putative
class members, and (2) that the data breach constituted an unauthorized disclosure
of their personal information. Crippen, 287 So. 2d at 832. The Named Plaintiffs
likely will have to prove causation and damages, as in other breach-of-contract
claims, but the scarce case law on the physician’s implied contract of confidentiality
does not impose such a requirement.13 See Reynolds Metals Co. v. Hill, 825 So. 2d
100, 105 (Ala. 2002) (citing State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Slade, 747 So. 2d 293,
303 (Ala. 1999)).
The first two elements—the relationship and the disclosure—are easily
resolved on a class-wide basis. Under Alabama law, a physician-patient relationship
It makes no sense that Alabama law would require a lesser showing for litigants claiming
breach of an implied contract than it requires for litigants claiming breach of an express contract.
Regardless, when called to apply state law, this court must “take the state law as [it] find[s] it.”
Castilleja v. S. Pac. Co., 406 F.2d 669, 675 (5th Cir. 1969). The parties did not directly address
this question, so the court proceeds under the assumption that causation and damages are elements
of the implied contract of confidentiality. If further analysis belies this assumption, the court
would still reach the same result: Without having to prove causation and damages, the impliedcontract claim is wholly susceptible to common proof, and therefore the predominance criterion
would still be met.
13
30
arises where a “patient knowingly seeks the assistance of a physician and the
physician knowingly accepts him as a patient.” Wilson v. Athens-Limestone Hosp.,
894 So. 2d 630, 634 (Ala. 2004) (quoting Wilson v. Teng, 786 So. 2d 485, 499 (Ala.
2000)). Each member of the putative class can prove this relationship element by
offering the same evidence, namely, their registration as a Flowers patient. See
Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. at 1045 (defining a common question as one that can be
proved as to each class member by the same evidence); (Doc. # 70-2 at 4 (detailing
the registration of non-hospital patients).) The Hospital claims that a contract may
not be implied absent a meeting of the parties’ minds and that, as a result, an inquiry
into the creation of an implied contract would turn on individualized facts like the
class members’ mental states and interactions with Flowers. This argument fails to
account for the unique nature of the implied contract of confidentiality between
physicians and patients. Rather than a meeting of the minds, this implied contract
arises from the parties’ relationship, Wilson, 894 So. 2d at 634; because all the
putative class members share a relationship with Flowers, the formation of the
implied contract does not present an individualized question. Similarly, establishing
the disclosure element requires only generalized proof of the circumstances
surrounding Millender’s heist—proof that would be identical for all class members.
Flowers voices a strident objection to predominance, pointing to the
individualized nature of the causation and damages elements. This objection fails,
31
and its failure will be discussed in depth at the end of the predominance section, in
Part IV.D.1.e.14
But before reaching the shortcomings of Flowers’s anti-
predominance argument, the common issues that predominate in each of the four
causes of action must be examined.
Minor individualized issues do not defeat predominance where the common
issues are at the crux of the action to be certified. Rutstein, 211 F.3d at 1234; accord
In re Inter-Op Hip Prosthesis Liability Litig., 204 F.R.D. 330, 345 (N.D. Ohio 2001)
(“[C]ommon issues need only predominate, not outnumber individual issues.”)
(emphasis added). Here, the relationship and disclosure elements are so crucial to
the implied-contract claim that they predominate. The two elements go to the heart
of the implied-contract claim: whether a contract existed in the first place and
whether that contract was breached. The extent to which Flowers was obliged to
protect patient records, and whether it breached that obligation, are the predominant
issues in this case—answering these questions one way or another will effectively
decide the parties’ dispute. Causation and damages, while also necessary for a
finding of liability, will not feature so prominently in the resolution of this matter.
Thus, because the relationship and disclosure elements are the key points of
All four causes of action require proof of causation and damages, and Flowers does not
limit its argument to one cause of action or another. To avoid redundancy, the court will analyze
causation and damages wholesale at the end of the predominance section rather than working
through these elements piecemeal as they pertain to each cause of action.
14
32
contention, resolution of the common elements “will so advance the litigation that
they may fairly be said to predominate.” In re School Asbestos Litig., 789 F.2d 996,
1010 (3d Cir. 1986). The implied-contract claim therefore passes the predominance
criterion.
b.
Breach of Express Contract
To establish a prima facie case for breach of express contract, the Named
Plaintiffs must prove that there was a valid contract, that they performed under the
contract, that Flowers failed to perform, and that they suffered damages as a result.
Shaffer, 29 So. 3d at 880. In support of the express-contract claim, the Named
Plaintiffs will offer evidence of the alleged contract (the NPP) and evidence of the
data breach.
As with the implied-contract claim, the questions of contract formation and
breach take center stage; if these turn out to be common questions, the predominance
requirement is met. This appears to be the case: The NPP is a standard, form
document, identical copies of which were signed by each member of the expresscontract subclass. See Kleiner, 97 F.R.D. at 692 (highlighting the propriety of class
treatment of disputes over form contracts). The alleged contract’s validity and
effect, therefore, can be determined on the face of the NPP and, perhaps, by looking
to Flowers’s actions in delivering and performing under the NPP. This would be
enough to make contract formation a common question. And, as with the other
33
claims, the question of breach turns on Millender’s records heist, an undeniably
common question.
Flowers denies predominance on the grounds that the contract’s validity will
turn on individualized proof. The Hospital attacks with several tacks: First, it
grouses that “Plaintiffs have yet to identify what provision of what contract was
supposedly breached.” (Doc. # 72 at 32.) Not only does this complaint misrepresent
the Named Plaintiffs’ argument, which identifies both the putative contract and the
manner in which it was breached (see Doc. # 69 at 16), its focus on the merits of the
Named Plaintiffs’ claim takes it outside of the scope of the certification inquiry. See
Brown, 817 F.3d at 1234.
Second, the Hospital argues that certification of a breach-of-contract claim is
inappropriate where the formation of that contract is disputed. (Doc. # 72 at 33.)
Flowers offers no legal support for this assertion, and the court’s own research has
failed to corroborate this claim. Indeed, breach-of-contract actions are routinely
certified despite disputes over the contract’s terms or validity,15 and form contracts
like the NPP remain peculiarly suitable to class treatment. E.g., Sacred Heart Health
Sys., Inc. v. Humana Military Healthcare Serv., Inc., 601 F.3d 1159, 1171 (11th Cir.
See, e.g., Torres-Vallejo v. Creativexteriors, Inc., --- F. Supp. 3d ---, 2016 WL 7155840
(D. Colo. Nov. 23, 2016); In re Scotts EZ Seed Litig., 304 F.R.D. 397 (S.D.N.Y. 2015); Ham v.
Swift Transp. Co., 275 F.R.D. 475 (W.D. Tenn. 2011); Dupler v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 249
F.R.D. 29 (E.D.N.Y. 2008).
15
34
2010) (“It is the form contract, executed under like conditions by all class members,
that best facilitates class treatment.”); Allapattah Servs., Inc. v. Exxon Corp., 333
F.3d 1248, 1260–61 (11th Cir. 2003), aff’d, 545 U.S. 546 (2005). Moreover, absent
allegations of fraud or ambiguity that are not urged in this case, the parol evidence
rule would limit the court’s analysis to the four corners of the NPP—thereby
rendering inadmissible a great swath of individualized evidence. Ala. Elec. Coop.,
Inc. v. Bailey’s Constr. Co., 950 So. 2d 280, 287 (Ala. 2006) (citing Envtl. Sys., Inc.
v. Rexham Corp., 624 So. 2d 1379, 1381 (Ala. 1993)) .
And third, the Hospital claims that the factual question of whether a class
member received the NPP precludes predominance. (Doc. # 72 at 33–34.) Division
of the putative class into the implied-contract and express-contract subclasses solves
this problem: Every member of the express-contract subclass received the NPP,
thereby obviating the need for an individualized inquiry into the class members’
receipt of the Notice. Accordingly, the questions of contract formation and breach
are common issues. As with the implied-contract claim, these common issues are
so central to the claim that they predominate without outnumbering the
individualized issues of causation and damages.
c.
Negligence
To recover on their negligence claim, the Named Plaintiffs must prove the
familiar elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages. Albert, 602 So. 2d at
35
897. Plaintiffs can establish duty by proving they were non-hospital patients at
Flowers, breach by proof of Millender’s records theft, and damages by showing the
variegated expenses incurred in responding to the exposure of their personal
information. Causation poses a trickier hurdle, but may be proved circumstantially.
See Resnick v. AvMed, Inc., 693 F.3d 1317, 1326–27 (11th Cir. 2012); Caroline C.
Cease, Giving Out Your Number: A Look at the Current State of Data Breach
Litigation, 66 Ala. L. Rev. 395 (2014).
The questions of duty and breach—like the questions of the existence and
breach of a contract—are common issues susceptible to proof on a class-wide basis.
Although negligence classes are not commonly certified, this case does not present
the sort of variations in state law or in operative facts that tend to defeat
predominance. E.g., Amchem Prods., Inc., 521 U.S. at 624 (declining to find
predominance due, in part, to “[d]ifferences in state law”); Kirkpatrick v. J.C.
Bradford & Co., 827 F.2d 718, 725 (11th Cir. 1987) (holding that variations in state
law precluded class certification); Lienhart v. Dryvit Sys., Inc., 255 F.3d 138, 149
(4th Cir. 2001) (reversing district court’s finding of predominance, in part because
liability hinged on individual interactions between the defendant and various class
members); accord In re Tri-State Crematory Litig., 215 F.R.D. 660, 695 (N.D. Ga.
2003) (certifying negligence class where the applicable law and operative facts were
36
largely uniform). Rather, each class member was a non-hospital patient16 at Flowers,
each class member alleges injury as a result of Millender’s records heist, and each
class member suffered the same general type of damages; moreover, each class
member is an Alabama resident suing under Alabama law. These common issues
are pivotal to the resolution of the litigation, and therefore predominate despite
individualized questions of causation and damages. Accord Sterling v. Velsicol
Chem. Corp., 855 F.2d 1188, 1197 (9th Cir. 1988) (emphasizing that tort actions
arising from “a single course of conduct” are well suited for class resolution).
d.
Negligence Per Se
To recover for negligence per se, the Named Plaintiffs must prove that
Flowers violated a statute, that the statute aimed to protect a class to which Plaintiffs
belong, that they suffered the sort of injury contemplated by the statute, and that their
injury was proximately caused by Flowers’s violation of the law. See Cook’s Pest
Control, Inc., 28 So. 3d at 726. The Named Plaintiffs claim that the Hospital violated
HIPAA; they plan to prove Flowers’s negligence per se by introducing evidence of
HIPAA’s requirements and of the data breach. This common evidence would suffice
to show all but the damages element of negligence per se. And, while damages will
involve some individualized inquiry, that alone will not derail class certification.
Klay, 382 F.3d at 1259 (“[T]he presence of individualized damages does not prevent
16
See supra Part III.A; see also supra note 8.
37
a finding that the common issues in the case predominate.”) (quoting Allapattah
Servs., Inc., 333 F.3d at 1261). Flowers’s alleged statutory violation sits at the
forefront of the negligence per se analysis; common questions therefore predominate
as to all four of the Named Plaintiffs’ causes of action.
e.
A Note on Causation and Damages
As mentioned above, Flowers mounts an attack on predominance on the basis
of the individualized nature of causation and damages.
The strength of the
Hospital’s arguments warrants extended discussion.
Starting with the question of damages, it is hornbook law that individualized
damages do not preclude class certification. Klay, 382 F.3d at 1259; In re School
Asbestos Litig., 789 F.2d at 1010 (“[I]t [is not] a disqualification that damages must
be assessed on an individual basis.”). Such a rule jibes with the purpose of Rule 23:
The policy at the very core of the class action mechanism is to
overcome the problem that small recoveries do not provide the
incentive for any individual to bring a solo action prosecuting his or her
rights. A class action solves this problem by aggregating the relatively
paltry potential recoveries into something worth someone’s (usually an
attorney’s) labor.
Amchem Prods., 521 U.S. at 617 (quoting Mace v. Van Ru Credit Corp., 109 F.3d
338, 344 (7th Cir. 1997)). “It would drive a stake through the heart of the class
action device, in cases in which damages were sought rather than an injunction or a
declaratory judgment, to require that every member of the class have identical
damages.” Butler v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 727 F.3d 796, 801 (7th Cir. 2013). To
38
be sure, there are “extreme cases in which computation of each individual’s damages
will be so complex, fact-specific, and difficult that the burden on the court system
would be simply intolerable.” Klay, 382 F.3d at 1260. But “such cases rarely, if
ever, come along.” Id. Otherwise, absent “significant individualized questions
going to liability,” the lack of identical damages will not preclude certification under
Rule 23(b)(3). Id.
The Named Plaintiffs claim “myriad . . . different expenses, costs, fees,
penalties, lost opportunities, loss of time, mileage costs, lost wages, professional
fees, general frustration, and other inconveniences.” (Doc. # 72 at 42.) Resolving
these claims for damages will require a series of proceedings in which each class
member can put on his or her case for damages; Flowers, too, would be given a
chance to rebut these claims. But the burden of corralling this run of mini-trials
shrinks in comparison to the burden of conducting a full-blown trial on every issue
contained in every cause of action, for every class member. Individualized damages
do not sink the putative class.
Causation is a tougher question. But when framed in the context of the
putative class action as a whole, the individual issues surrounding causation fade
into the background of the larger dispute. Because the questions of causation in this
case are bound up in the questions of damages, and because causation plays only a
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minor role in the larger controversy, common questions predominate in this class
action.
Flowers rightly argues that proving causation will entail an inquiry into each
class member’s financial history. The Eleventh Circuit has accepted circumstantial
proof of the causal connection between identity theft and a data breach, but requires
“a nexus between the two instances beyond allegations of time and sequence.”
Resnick, 693 F.3d at 1326–28. Proving this nexus may require a review of any prior
thefts of each class member’s identity.17 See id. Similarly, Flowers argues that the
high rate of tax fraud in the Middle District of Alabama justifies individual inquiry
into each class member to ensure that their identity was stolen by Millender or his
accomplice, rather than some other fraudster. Such facts are bound up in the same
findings necessary to support the class members’ claims for damages. The Named
Plaintiffs already have to show that they incurred damages as a result of delayed or
17 Resnick modelled its analysis on an unpublished Ninth Circuit opinion, Stollenwerk v.
Tri-West Health Care Alliance, 254 F. App’x 664 (2007). 693 F.3d at 1326–27. In Stollenwerk,
the Ninth Circuit held that a data-breach plaintiff had established causation where he alleged that
he gave the defendant his personal information, that his identity was stolen six weeks after a breach
of the defendant’s database, and that he had not previously been a victim of identity theft. 254 F.
App’x at 667. Approving Stollenwerk’s reasoning, the Eleventh Circuit in Resnick held that
circumstantial proof required something more than “a mere temporal connection,” and that the
plaintiffs had carried that burden. 693 F.3d at 1327. Flowers reads Resnick to impose a three-part
test mirroring the Stollenwerk analysis. But Resnick did not hold that causation in a data-breach
case can only be proved circumstantially if those three factors are satisfied; rather, it held only that
the plaintiffs had succeeded in showing something more than a temporal connection, as required.
Id. at 1327–28. Although such a test may be a useful analytical tool, to the extent it can be gleaned
from Resnick it is non-binding (if persuasive) dicta. See Bryan A. Garner, William H. Pryor, Jr.,
et al., The Law of Judicial Precedent 69–72 (2016).
40
rejected tax returns and/or their mitigation efforts. It is little more for them also to
show that they have not previously had their identities stolen. The sort of proof
necessary for causation is the sort of proof necessary for damages; the evidence
supporting the two issues is so interwoven as to justify their likely joint resolution
in bifurcated mini-trials. Under these facts, just as individualized damages will not
preclude certification, neither should the mirror-image question of causation. See
Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. at 1045 (approving of class treatment where, “even though
other important matters will have to be tried separately,” “one or more of the central
issues . . . are common to the class”).
More importantly, causation is at best a background issue in this dispute.
Predominance is not a matter of “counting noses.” Brown, 817 F.3d at 1239 (quoting
Parko, 739 F.3d at 1085). Instead, the criterion is satisfied where the most important
questions in the litigation are common in nature. Id.; see also Rutstein, 211 F.3d at
1236 (reasoning that the greater importance of individual issues, relative to the
common issues, barred predominance). This is the case here. At root, this dispute
stems from two questions: Did the Hospital have a duty, whether sounding in
contract or tort, to protect the putative class members’ personal information? And,
if so, did the Hospital breach that duty when Millender made off with the patient
records? Causation and damages, while also necessary for a finding of liability, orbit
around these two central questions. Resolving the common questions of contractual
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or tort-based duty and breach “will be of great value in the ultimate resolution of
each class member’s underlying cause of action.” In re Tri-State Crematory Litig.,
215 F.R.D. at 695. Although individualized questions of causation and damages
may persist, they do not derail the predominance of the common questions.
2.
Superiority
Finally, a 23(b)(3) class may only be certified if “a class action is superior to
other available methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.” Fed.
R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3). Rule 23 directs that the superiority analysis should take into
account “the class members’ interests in individually controlling the prosecution or
defense of separate actions,” “the extent and nature of any litigation concerning the
controversy already begun by or against class members,” “the desirability or
undesirability of concentrating the litigation of the claims in the particular forum,”
and “the likely difficulties in managing a class action.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3)(A)–
(D). The Named Plaintiffs meet this requirement.
All four factors contemplated by Rule 23(b)(3) go in favor of class
certification. Common issues predominate in the class members’ claims and, owing
to the relatively low damages, one class member’s recovery will not preclude the
recovery of another. See Klay, 382 F.3d at 1269 (explaining that a higher degree of
predominance makes class resolution all the more superior). Accordingly, the class
members have only a minor interest, if any, in controlling the prosecution of the
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action. Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3)(A). The court has not been made aware of any
other litigation concerning the Flowers Hospital data breach, and concentrating this
dispute in a single forum will help bring the matter to a uniform conclusion that
neither prejudices nor privileges Flowers or particular class members.
Id.
23(b)(3)(B), (C). And because each class member lives in Alabama and has an
address on file with Flowers, the difficulties in managing the class should be
minimal. Id. 23(b)(3)(D); see Roper v. Consurve, Inc., 578 F.2d 1106, 1115 (5th
Cir. 1978) (characterizing as “peculiarly manageable” a class of plaintiffs that all
“live[d] in one state” and whose addresses were kept on file by the defendant).
Moreover, the non-hospital patients injured in the data breach likely could not,
or would not, seek redress unless certified as a class. Cf. Klay, 382 F.3d at 1269
(focusing the superiority inquiry on “the relative advantages of a class action suit
over whatever other forms of litigation might be realistically available to the
plaintiffs”) (emphasis added) (citing In re Managed Care Litig., 209 F.R.D. 678,
692 (S.D. Fla. 2002)). As best the court can tell, no class member suffered more
than a few thousand dollars in damages. Many a lawyer would scoff at such a low
dollar amount, leaving the class members with few avenues to seek recovery from
Flowers. See Roper, 578 F.2d at 1114 (finding that 23(b)(3) superiority was satisfied
where “[t]he alleged statutory wrong may go unchallenged because the costs of proof
exceed the likely recovery”). Not only is the class device superior to the other
43
available methods to decide this controversy, it may be the only way for the class
members to see any recovery at all. The Named Plaintiffs have therefore satisfied
Rule 23(b)(3), and their motion for class certification is due to be granted.
V. CONCLUSION
The Named Plaintiffs have succeeded in proving their entitlement to class
certification under Rule 23(b)(3). Subject to later alteration, see Fed. R. Civ. P.
23(c)(1)(C), trial of this case will be bifurcated into two phases. In the first phase,
the collective questions of duty and breach will be put to a jury. If Plaintiffs prevail,
the intermingled questions of causation and damages will then be tried on an
individual basis.
Accordingly, it is ORDERED as follows:
1.
The Named Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification (Doc. # 68) is
GRANTED;
2.
The court CERTIFIES under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3)
a class with the following definition:
All non-hospital patients of Flowers Hospital, as defined above, whose
personal identifying information or protected health information was
stolen from Flowers Hospital by Kamarian Millender and/or his
accomplice(s). Excluded from the class are the (i) owners, officers,
directors, employees, agents and/or representatives of Defendant and
its parent entities, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, and/or assigns,
and (ii) the court, court personnel, and members of their immediate
families.
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3.
The court CERTIFIES under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3)
two subclasses with the following definitions:
a.
As to Plaintiffs’ claim for breach of implied contract:
All persons who are members of the class described in Paragraph 2,
above, who did not receive the NPP during the course of their
interactions with Flowers Hospital.
b.
As to Plaintiffs’ claim for breach of express contract:
All persons who are members of the class described in Paragraph 2,
above, who received the NPP during the course of their interactions
with Flowers Hospital.
4.
Plaintiffs Julie McGee, Adam Parker, Sandra Hall, and Jack Whittle are
APPROVED as class representatives;
5.
Plaintiff Bradley Smith is REJECTED as class representative because
he is not typical of the class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(3);
6.
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(g), the law firm of
McCallum, Methvin & Terrell, P.C., is APPOINTED as class counsel;
7.
Trial of this matter likely will be BIFURCATED, subject to Rule
23(c)(1)(C). The common elements of all four causes of action, as described above,
will be tried collectively, and the elements of causation and damages will be tried
individually or collectively, as appropriate; and
8.
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(2)(B), the parties are
ORDERED to submit to this court, on or before April 14, 2017, a class notice plan
45
and forms of notice. If the parties are unable to agree on forms of notice, the parties
shall each submit on or before April 7, 2017 their proposed forms, accompanied by
a memorandum explaining the party's position, and each party shall respond to the
other's proposed notice plan and forms of notice no later than April 14, 2017.
DONE this 17th day of March, 2017.
/s/ W. Keith Watkins
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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