Back on August 14th, I commented on yet another decision giving a further boost to the Supreme Court's decision in Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc. v. Superior Court (Olmstead), 40 Cal.4th 360 (2007), in which the California Supreme Court confirmed the right of plaintiffs to discover the identity and contact information of putative class members.  Discussing Alch v. Superior Court (August 14, 2008) in this post, I commented that it furthered the trend of Belaire-West Landscape, Inc. v. Superior Court, 149 Cal.App.4th 554 (2007) and Puerto v. Superior Court, 158 Cal.App.4th 1242 (2008).  It turns out that appellate courts aren't done reminding parties about the fundamental right to engage in discovery in class actions.

On August September 17, 2008, the Second Appellate District (Division Seven) added to the discussion regarding the substantial right to basic discovery of information about putative class members.  In Lee, et al. v. Dynamex, Inc., et al., the Court of Appeal tied all of the threads emanating from Pioneer together and concluded that the failure to permit discovery about class member identity was grounds for reversing the trial court's order denying class certification:

“After first denying Lee’s motion to compel Dynamex to identify and provide contact information for potential putative class members, the trial court denied Lee’s motion for class certification. Because the trial court’s discovery ruling directly conflicts with the Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc. v. Superior Court (2007) 40 Cal.4th 360 (Pioneer), as well as our decisions in Belaire-West Landscape, Inc. v. Superior Court (2007) 149 Cal.App.4th 554 and Puerto v. Superior Court (2008) 158 Cal.App.4th 1242 (Puerto), and that ruling improperly interfered with Lee’s ability to establish the necessary elements for class certification, we reverse both orders and remand for further proceedings regarding class certification.

(Slip op., at p. 2.)  In light of Dynamex, defendants must carefully weigh whether to offer any opposition to plaintiffs seeking discovery of the identity and contact information for class members.  A successful opposition to such discovery may lead to a second chance at certification if the trial court denies certification.  In order to control costs and avoid such a result, we may see defendants electing to stipulate to an order to produce such discovery (as the expedient means of satisfying the defendant's obligation to maintain some degree of control over class member contact information).  As an aside, Dynamex had the misfortune of drawing the last panel they would have wanted to review this appeal.  I'd guess that Appellate Justices don't take kindly to trial court decisions that essentially ignore that panel's prior, controlling decisions on the issues confronting the trial court.

The opinion also includes an educational discussion about the "ascertainability" requisite for certification.  In short, the Court of Appeal again reminds us that all class members need not be identified or identifiable at the certification stage.

I'm still trying to catch up after two weeks of depositions out of state.  This has been a busy week for class-related decisions (and the week's not over yet); I'm working through the decisions and other news as fast as I can get to them.