Shareholders Glenn E. “Charlie” Ireland, Joseph H. Driver and Angel A. Darmer recently defeated class claims in a nationwide class action lawsuit against their client, a full service asset recovery company. The plaintiff filed the lawsuit as the representative of a putative nationwide class of individuals asserting claims pertaining to the collection of certain storage and redemption fees associated with repossession services provided by the defendant.
At the Trial Court level, Glenn and Angel secured a judgment on the pleadings and dismissal of the plaintiff’s class claims after successfully arguing that the class claims failed because the subclasses were not clearly ascertainable and individual issues predominated over common ones. The Court agreed and granted dismissal of plaintiff’s class claims, as well as virtually all of the underlying substantive claims.
The plaintiff appealed the dismissal to the Alabama Supreme Court, arguing it was premature. Joe joined Charlie and Angel in establishing that the dismissal was entirely permissible and proper pursuant to Alabama Rule of Civil Procedure 12. The Alabama Supreme Court issued an Order Affirming the Trial Court’s dismissal of the class claims and the underlying substantive claims.
