| 116th Year, 46th Issue | Thursday, June 23, 2005 | Sparta, North Carolina |
Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation has filed a brief opposing the motion of eight Ashe County residents for class certification, according to one of the most recent BREMCO suit documents on file at the Ashe County Clerk of Court Office.
There were five arguments within the class certification motion filed April 19. The first was that the plaintiffs, Dr. Ritz C. Ray Jr., Samuel B. and Shirley Church, Russell F. and Ann Vannoy, Robert Warren Miller and Jerry W. and Dian P. Ray, must establish prerequisites for certification.
Under this argument, the document noted the plaintiffs must prove six things. First, the plaintiffs must prove that a class exists; second, that the class is “so numerous” that a joinder, or the joining of two or more similar elements such as claims or parties, is impractical.
Third, the plaintiffs must represent the interest of all the members of the class in a fair manner and fourth, that no conflict of interest exists between the plaintiffs and members of the class who are “not named parties.” Fifth, the document calls for the plaintiffs to have a “genuine personal interest, not a mere technical interest” in the result of the case and finally, the class representative within the jurisdiction will represent the interest of those outside the jurisdiction.
“Even if the plaintiffs satisfy each prerequisite to certification, the trial court still must determine whether the class action procedure is the best method for adjudicating plaintiffs’ claims,” the document stated.
The second argument noted that the plaintiffs cannot establish that a class exists. The plaintiffs must show that one or more “common issues” exists.
In defense of this argument, the document noted, “Although the
plaintiffs set out a laundry list of supposedly ‘common’ issues, these
are not ‘common’ in the legal sense because they cannot be proven or
disproven by the same evidence.”
|
Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back |