Willis v. City of Seattle, No. 18-35053 (9th Cir. 2019)
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of class certification in an action challenging the procedures that the City and WSDOT uses to remove unauthorized encampments, camping equipment, and personal property left on city-owned property. Plaintiffs alleged that defendants engaged in a practice of "sweeps" that destroyed property, and violated the unreasonable seizure and due process clauses of the federal and state constitutions.
The panel held that plaintiffs failed to proffer sufficient evidence and articulate a practice that was common to the claims of the proposed class in their motion for class certification. In this case, there was no evidence that every plaintiff has experienced the same challenged practice or suffered the same injury due to the implementation of the guidelines at issue. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that an alleged practice affecting each of the plaintiffs was not discernible from the record and denying certification.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of class certification in an action challenging the procedures by which the City of Seattle and the Washington State Department of Transportation remove unauthorized encampments, camping equipment, and personal property left on city-owned property. Appellants asserted in their motion for class certification that the City and the Department of Transportation engaged in an alleged policy and practice of “sweeps” that destroyed property, violating the unreasonable seizure and due process clauses under both the U.S. Constitution and the Washington State Constitution. The panel held that Appellants failed to proffer sufficient evidence and articulate a practice that was common to the * The Honorable Jennifer Choe-Groves, Judge for the United States Court of International Trade, sitting by designation. WILLIS V. CITY OF SEATTLE 3 claims of the proposed class in their motion for class certification. The panel concluded that it was not an abuse of discretion for the district court to hold that an alleged practice affecting each of the Appellants was not discernable from the record and to deny Appellants’ class action certification accordingly. The panel disagreed with the dissent’s assertion that Appellants’ motion for class certification raised a facial challenge to defendants’ policies as a basis for establishing commonality for purposes of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a). Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Judge Christen agreed, under the circumstances of this case, that plaintiffs failed to show that their as-applied claims posed common questions for purposes of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a). Judge Christen stated, however, that plaintiffs also presented distinct facial challenges to defendants’ camp cleanup policies and the order denying class certification did not address these policies. Because the order denying class certification made no mention of plaintiffs’ facial claims, Judge Christen would remand for the district court to consider this issue in the first instance. 4 WILLIS V. CITY OF SEATTLE
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