Timothy Cherry, et al.v.Dometic Corporation
Eighteen owners of Dometic recreational-vehicle refrigerators alleged that models sold from 1997 to 2016 had boiler-tube corrosion that could cause chemical leaks and fires, and sought class certification. The district court denied certification because the owners had not proved an administratively feasible method to identify absent class members, then dismissed the action for lack of jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). The Eleventh Circuit held that Rule 23 does not require administrative feasibility as a prerequisite to certification or ascertainability; for a Rule 23(b)(3) class, identification difficulties may be weighed as part of manageability against the other considerations, and rarely decide certification alone. The court also held that CAFA jurisdiction does not depend on class certification, so denial of certification did not require dismissal. It vacated both orders and remanded for further proceedings without deciding whether the proposed class should be certified.
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