Issue

Certification—feasibility of ascertaining class members—no predominance or superiority issues

Summary

In a class action lawsuit against a county regarding two types of waste disposal fees, the trial court's order certifying three of four proposed classes was affirmed. First, members of two of the proposed classes–those who paid either a "Green Box Fee" or a "Landfill Fee" but who used private waste collection services–could be feasibly and objectively ascertained from customer lists of the few private waste collection services in the county. Second, with regard to one of the proposed classes, any individualized issues regarding whether a member did or did not use a county-provided waste disposal unit did not predominate over the common issues, including whether the private facilities offered the "same services" as the county. Finally, with regard to the class encompassing those from whom the county overcollected–based on fees that exceeded the cost of operating the county's waste disposal facilities in violation of N.C.G.S. § 153A-292(b)–the trial court did not abuse its discretion by determining that a class action was a superior method of adjudicating those claims than any alternative, based on efficiency considerations.

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →