Third Circuit's Ascertainability Requirement Dictates Certification Denial In TCPA Class Action

Last month, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Lyngaas, D.D.S., P.L.L.C. v. IQVIA, Inc., 2024 WL 3360653 (E.D. Pa. July 9, 2024) rejected a bid for class certification after finding that plaintiff failed to articulate an administratively feasible method of identifying the potential class members. This decision further entrenches the ascertainability requirement set forth in Carrera v. Bayer Corp., 727 F.3d 300 (3d Cir. 2013) and more recently in In re Niaspan Antitrust Litig., 67 F.4th 118 (3d Cir. 2023).

In Lyngaas, the plaintiff alleged that he received unsolicited fax advertisements from IQVIA, Inc. ("IQVIA") in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), which prohibits fax advertisements without prior express consent from recipients. Lyngaas, 2023 WL 3360653, at 1-2. Believing that he was among more than 134,000 healthcare professionals receiving these unsolicited fax advertisements, Plaintiff sought class certification under