Earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit held that plaintiffs cannot
avail themselves of liberal discovery rules in order to locate
class representatives. The court found that Rule 26(b)(1) of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which governs the discovery
process, does not authorize discovery before class certification
when such discovery is to help plaintiffs locate a putative class
representative.1
Plaintiff Sought Discovery to Follow the Thread to a Putative
Class Representative
Plaintiff William Rushing, a resident of Kentucky, purchased
bedding from Defendant Williams-Sonoma online. He brought suit in
California Superior Court bringing individual and class claims
under California law, alleging that the thread count was much lower
than the advertised 600 threads per square inch. Williams-Sonoma
removed the case to federal court, where the district court used a
choice-of-law analysis to conclude Kentucky law applied to
Plaintiff's claims.
