Cassandra McNair-stepney v. Toyota Motor Corp. ( 2018 )

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
JUN 04 2018
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
In re: TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. No. 16-55327
UNINTENDED ACCELERATION
MARKETING, SALES PRACTICES, D.C. No.
AND PRODUCTS LIABILITY 8:10-ml-02151-JVS-FMO
LITIGATION,
------------------------------ MEMORANDUM*
CASSANDRA MCNAIR-STEPNEY,
Movant-Appellant,
v.
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION, a
Japanese Corporation / a foreign
corporation, DBA Toyota Motor North
America, Inc.; TOYOTA MOTOR
SALES, U.S.A., INC., a California
corporation / a foreign corporation,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
James V. Selna, District Judge, Presiding
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
Page 2 of 4
Argued and Submitted November 9, 2017
Pasadena, California
Before: LINN,** BERZON, and WATFORD, Circuit Judges.
The district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Cassandra McNair-
Stepney’s motion for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
60(b). McNair-Stepney contends that both her right to due process and Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 23 were violated because neither she nor her attorney
received actual notice of the class action settlement, thereby depriving her of an
opportunity to opt out. But neither due process nor Rule 23 require that each
individual class member receive actual notice. Briseno v. ConAgra Foods, Inc.,
844 F.3d 1121, 1128–29 (9th Cir. 2017); Silber v. Mabon, 18 F.3d 1449, 1453–54
(9th Cir. 1994). Due process instead requires notice “reasonably calculated, under
all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and
afford them an opportunity to present their objections.” Mullane v. Central
Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314 (1950); see also Fed. R. Civ. P.
23(c)(2)(B). Here, that standard was met.
**
The Honorable Richard Linn, United States Circuit Judge for the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sitting by designation.
Page 3 of 4
The claims administrator mailed individual notices to more than 22 million
class members. The notice sent to McNair-Stepney’s attorney contained a
typographical error in the address, but the notice was not returned as undeliverable,
so there was no reason for the claims administrator to take additional steps to
ensure that the notice was actually delivered. The claims administrator did take
additional steps to send notice to the roughly one million class members whose
notices were returned as undeliverable. But with a class of more than 22 million
members, it would simply not have been feasible for the claims administrator to
independently verify that every one of the individual notices had in fact reached its
intended recipient.
The notice program approved by the district court provided adequate
protection against the isolated failure of an individual notice to reach its intended
recipient, due to mistake or otherwise. In addition to mailing notices, Toyota
planned and executed a comprehensive notice-by-publication campaign, which
included settlement advertisements in 1,300 newspapers, at least ten national
consumer magazines, and internet banners on popular and highly trafficked
websites. As the district court noted, given the widespread publicity surrounding
the class action litigation and the publication notice actually provided, “it is
difficult to believe that an attorney involved in this massive litigation would not
Page 4 of 4
have learned of the proposed settlement and opportunity to opt-out, even if notice
was not sent to his postal address.”
Because the notice provided to the class was constitutionally adequate,
McNair-Stepney’s due process rights were not violated. The notice also comported
with the requirements of Rule 23. The district court therefore permissibly
exercised its discretion by denying her motion to opt out of the settlement long
after final judgment had been entered.
AFFIRMED.