Ninth Circuit Overturns Sua Sponte Class Certification

Last week the Ninth Circuit overturned a district court judge's sua sponte class certification in Bonlender v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., 2008 WL 2873264 (9th Cir. July 22, 2008). Apparently the district court failed to make any Rule 23(a) or (b) findings and did not analyze whether variations in laws of the four states involved defeated Rule 23(b)(3)'s predominance requirement. The Ninth Circuit also reassigned the case to a different district court judge on remand. This is the first time I've heard of a sua sponte class certification and would be interested to know of other instances and their outcomes.

ECB