Freeman et al v. Wilshire Commercial Capital L.L.C.

Filing 99

ORDER signed by Senior Judge William B. Shubb on 3/6/18, ORDERING that the court will stay class discovery until the Supreme Court issues an opinion. A Status Conference is SET for 8/6/2018 at 01:30 PM in Courtroom 5 (WBS) before Senior Judge William B. Shubb. (Kastilahn, A)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 12 13 VERINA FREEMAN and VALECEA DIGGS, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, 14 15 16 17 18 CIV. NO. 2:15-1428 WBS AC ORDER RE: MOTION TO STAY v. WILSHIRE COMMERCIAL CAPITAL L.L.C., a California limited liability company, dba WILSHIRE CONSUMER CREDIT, Defendant. 19 20 Verina Freeman (“Freeman”) and Velecea Diggs (“Diggs”) 21 (collectively “plaintiffs”) initiated this class action against 22 defendant Wilshire Commercial Capital, L.L.C. (“WCC”) alleging 23 violations of the Telephonic Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 24 U.S.C. § 227. 25 Joint Status Report (Docket No. 93) in which defendant requests 26 that in the event the court denies defendant’s Motion to Deny 27 Class Certification, the court stay class discovery pending 28 Supreme Court review of Resh v. China Agritech, Inc. (9th Cir. On February 14, 2018, the parties submitted a 1 1 2017) 857 F.3d 994, cert. granted, 138 S. Ct. 543 (2017). 2 Court is scheduled to hear Resh on March 28, 2018, and it is 3 expected to issue a ruling on the case by the end of June. 4 The In Resh, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the filing of 5 a class action tolls the limitations period and permits a 6 previously absent class member to bring a subsequent class action 7 outside of the generally applicable limitations period. 8 Supreme Court has previously ruled that the filing of a class 9 action suit tolls the running of the statute of limitations for a The 10 purported member’s individual claims. 11 v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974). 12 regarding the interpretation of the American Pipe rule as it 13 relates to tolling for subsequent putative class actions. 14 courts of appeal, including the Ninth Circuit, have interpreted 15 the rule to mean that the limitations period is tolled not only 16 as to individual claims but also as to future class action 17 claims, while six other courts of appeal have found tolling only 18 permits subsequent individual actions. 19 See Am. Pipe & Constr. Co. However, there is a circuit split Three If the Court reverses Resh and determines that the 20 statute of limitations is tolled only for individual claims, then 21 plaintiffs would be unable to bring this case as a class action, 22 though they would still be able to proceed with their individual 23 claims. 24 completely eliminated depending on the Supreme Court’s ruling in 25 Resh. 26 Supreme Court issues an opinion. 27 August 6, 2018, at 1:30 pm in Courtroom No. 5. 28 Accordingly, the need to do class discovery may be Therefore, the court will stay class discovery until the A status conference is set for IT IS SO ORDERED. 2 1 Dated: March 6, 2018 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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