Trujillo et al v. Machol & Johanness, LLC

Filing 8

MINUTE ORDER denying without prejudice as premature 7 Motion for Class Certification with Request for Deferred Ruling Pending Completion of Class Discovery, by Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty on 10/02/2014. The Court will address a briefing schedule for a class certification motion at the Scheduling Conference on 12/08/2014.(slibi, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. 14-cv-02625-MEH
ALFRED TRUJILLO, and
JOE L. RIVAS, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
MACHOL & JOHANNESS, LLC,
Defendant.
______________________________________________________________________________
MINUTE ORDER
______________________________________________________________________________
Entered by Michael E. Hegarty, United States Magistrate Judge, on October 2, 2014.
Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification with Request for Deferred Ruling Pending
Completion of Class Discovery [filed October 1, 2014; docket #7] is denied without prejudice as
premature. The record reflects Defendant has not yet been served in this action, and, therefore, does
not have an opportunity to respond to this motion. Additionally, plaintiffs have failed to comply
with D.C. Colo. LCivR 7.1(a), which states,
Before filing a motion, counsel for the moving party or an unrepresented party
shall confer or make reasonable good faith efforts to confer with any opposing
counsel or unrepresented party to resolve any disputed matter. The moving party
shall describe in the motion, or in a certificate attached to the motion, the specific
efforts to fulfill this duty.
The cases cited by the Plaintiffs do not persuade the Court that it should provide an exception
to the local conferral rules by addressing their motion at this time. The Court directs Plaintiffs to
Lucero v. Bureau of Collection Recovery, Inc., 639 F.3d 1239 (10th Cir. 2011), which is not cited
in their motion and is contrary to Damasco v. Clearwire, 662 F.3d 891 (7th Cir. 2011), the case upon
which Plaintiffs rely. Rejecting conclusions made by the Third, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits, the
Tenth Circuit found “a nascent interest attaches to the proposed class upon the filing of a class
complaint such that a rejected offer of judgment for statutory damages and costs made to a named
plaintiff does not render the case moot under Article III.” Lucero, 639 F.3d at 1249.
The Court will address a briefing schedule for a class certification motion at the Scheduling
Conference on December 8, 2014.