Baker v. Microsoft Corp., No. 12-35946 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, a putative class of owners of Microsoft Corporation’s Xbox 360 video game console, alleged that a design defect in the Xbox console gouged game discs. The district court approved a stipulated dismissal with prejudice of Plaintiffs’ lawsuit and entered an order striking their class allegations, concluding that comity required deferral to an earlier class certification denial from another district court decision involving the same subject matter. The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding (1) this court had jurisdiction to hear the appeal under 28 U.S.C. 1291 because the district court’s dismissal of the action with prejudice, even when the dismissal was the product of a stipulation, was a sufficiently adverse, and thus appealable, final decision; and (2) the Court’s decision in Wolin v. Jaguar Land Rover N. Am., LLC was controlling, and the district court’s decision striking the class action allegations from the complaint contravened Wolin and was an abuse of discretion.
Court Description: Class Certification. The panel reversed the district court’s stipulated dismissal and order striking class allegations in a diversity action brought by a putative class of owners of Microsoft Corporation’s Xbox 360 video game console. The putative class alleged a design defect in the Xbox console that gouged game discs. In striking the class allegations, the district court concluded that comity required deferral to an earlier class certification denial from another district court decision involving a similar putative class. The panel held that there was jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 to hear the appeal because the district court’s dismissal of the action with prejudice was a sufficiently adverse, and appealable, final decision, even though the dismissal was the product of a stipulation. The panel also held that the decision in Wolin v. Jaguar Land Rover N. Am., LLC, 617 F.3d 1168, 1173 (9th Cir. 2010) (rejecting the notion that individual manifestations of a defect precluded resolution of the claims on a class-wide basis), was controlling, and the district court’s decision striking the class action allegations from the complaint contravened Wolin and was an abuse of discretion. The panel remanded for further proceedings. BAKER V. MICROSOFT CORP. 3 Judge Bea concurred in the result, but not the reasoning, of the majority opinion. Judge Bea would hold that under the principles of comity a federal district court faced with an earlier denial of class certification in an earlier common dispute heard in a different district court should adopt a rebuttable presumption of correctness; and Judge Bea would conclude that presumption was rebutted in this case.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on July 20, 2015.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on January 29, 2018.
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