A. B. V. HAWAII STATE DEPT OF EDUC., No. 20-15570 (9th Cir. 2022)
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Plaintiffs brought Title IX claims for failure to provide equal treatment and benefits, failure to provide equal opportunities to male and female athletes, and retaliation against female athletes when they brought up Title IX compliance to high school administrators. The district court denied Plaintiff’s motion for class certification, finding that they failed to meet the numerosity requirement under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a).
The Ninth Circuit reversed. Rule 23(a)(1) requires a party seeking class certification to prove that “the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” The proposed class of plaintiffs at the time of filing exceeded 300. Additionally, the district court failed to consider the future students who also fell within the class. To satisfy the numerosity element of Rule 23(a) Plaintiffs do not need to show that the joinder of all possible class members is impossible, only that it is impracticable. The court also found Plaintiffs’ other claims met Rule 23(a)’s requirements, remanding the case for the district court to determine whether Plaintiffs satisfied Rule 23(b).
Court Description: Title IX / Class Certification. The panel reversed the district court’s order denying female student athletes’ motion for class certification in their action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to redress alleged violations of Title IX in the athletic programs at a public high school in Hawaii. Plaintiffs brought Title IX claims for failure to provide equal treatment and benefits, failure to provide male and female students with equivalent opportunities for participation in athletics, and retaliation against female athletes when issues of Title IX compliance were brought to the attention of high school administrators. The district court denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification on the grounds that, under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a), they failed to meet the requirement of numerosity, and as to the retaliation claim, commonality and typicality were lacking. The district court concluded that because plaintiffs failed to meet one or more requirements of Rule 23(a), it was not necessary to address the additional requirements of Rule 23(b)(1)(B) and (b)(2). As to numerosity, the panel held that Rule 23(a)(1) requires a party seeking class certification to show that “the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable.” The panel applied the standard set forth in Jordan v. County of Los Angeles, 669 F.2d 1311 (9th Cir. 1982), vacated, 459 U.S. 810 (1982), on remand, 713 F.2d A. B. V. HAWAII STATE DEP’T OF EDUC. 3 503 (9th Cir. 1983), modified, 726 F.2d 1366 (9th Cir. 1984), which requires consideration of the size of the class as well as potentially countervailing factors including the geographical diversity of class members, the ability of individual claimants to institute separate suits, whether injunctive or declaratory relief is sought, and the ability to identify and locate class members. The panel concluded that the district court failed to give appropriate weight to the very large size of the proposed class, which well exceeded 300 persons, and there were no countervailing case-specific considerations indicating that, despite the large class size, joinder of all class members was nonetheless practicable. The panel held that the district court also erred in failing adequately to consider the fact that the class, as defined, included “future” female student athletes at the high school. The panel therefore reversed the denial of class certification as to plaintiffs’ first and second claims and remanded with instructions to address whether plaintiffs also satisfied one or more of the criteria in Rule 23(b). The panel held that as to plaintiffs’ third cause of action for unlawful retaliation, the district court erred in also denying class certification on the further ground that plaintiffs failed to show commonality and typicality because this claim was centered on the high school water polo team, rather than on female student athletes as a whole. The panel concluded that the district court failed adequately to consider plaintiffs’ contention that defendants’ alleged retaliatory actions had a classwide effect. In addition, the district court failed to properly consider the legal principles that govern a retaliation claim of this nature under Title IX and require consideration of whether plaintiffs fall within the zone of interests that Title IX protects. 4 A. B. V. HAWAII STATE DEP’T OF EDUC. The panel held that the district court abused its discretion in concluding that plaintiffs did not meet the requirements of Rule 23(a). The panel therefore reversed the district court’s order denying class certification and remanded for it to consider whether plaintiffs satisfied Rule 23(b).
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