FISHER, Circuit Judge:
Florencio Pacleb filed a class action complaint against Allstate Insurance Company, alleging he received unsolicited automated telephone calls to his cellular telephone, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Taking a cue from a recent Supreme Court case, Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, ___ U.S. ___, 136 S.Ct. 663, 193 L.Ed.2d 571 (2016) ("Campbell-Ewald"), on appeal Allstate deposited $20,000 in full settlement of Pacleb's individual monetary claims in an escrow account "pending entry of a final District Court order or judgment directing the escrow agent to pay the tendered funds to Pacleb, requiring Allstate to stop sending non-emergency telephone calls and short message service messages to Pacleb in the future and dismissing this action as moot." On the basis of these actions, Allstate argues we should "reverse the denial of Allstate's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and remand to the District Court to order disbursement of the tendered funds to Pacleb, the entry of judgment in favor of Pacleb and the dismissal of this action as moot." We disagree.
First, even if the district court entered judgment affording Pacleb complete relief on his individual claims for damages and injunctive relief, mooting those claims, Pacleb would still be able to seek class certification under Pitts v. Terrible Herbst, Inc., 653 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir.2011). Although Allstate argues Pitts is no longer good law after Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1523, 185 L.Ed.2d 636 (2013), we rejected that very argument in Gomez v. Campbell-Ewald Co., 768 F.3d 871 (9th Cir.2014) ("Gomez"), aff'd, ___ U.S. ___, 136 S.Ct. 663, 193 L.Ed.2d 571 (2016). Pitts therefore remains the law of this circuit.
Second, even if Pitts were not binding, and Allstate could moot the entire action by mooting Pacleb's individual claims for damages and injunctive relief, those individual claims are not now moot, and we will not direct the district court to moot them by entering judgment on them before Pacleb has had a fair opportunity to move for class certification. Under Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit case law, a claim becomes moot when a plaintiff actually receives complete relief on that claim, not merely when that relief is offered or tendered. Where, as here, injunctive relief has been offered, and funds have been deposited in an escrow account, relief has been offered, but it has not been received. Pacleb's individual claims, therefore, are not now moot. Nor will we direct the district court to moot them. Assuming arguendo a district court could enter a judgment according complete relief on a plaintiff's individual claims over the plaintiff's objections, thereby mooting those claims, such action is not appropriate here. As the Supreme Court said in Campbell-Ewald,
For the above reasons, we affirm the order denying Allstate's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
In 2013, Richard Chen and Florencio Pacleb filed a class action complaint against Allstate Insurance Company, asserting violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The TCPA makes it unlawful, in part, "to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice ... to any telephone number assigned to a ... cellular telephone service, ... unless such call is made solely to collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States." 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A). An aggrieved person may bring an action to enjoin a violation of this provision or to seek actual or statutory damages. See id. § 227(b)(3). Statutory damages are $500 per violation. See id. § 227(b)(3)(B). If a violation is willful or knowing, a court may treble the award. See id. § 227(b)(3).
Chen alleged he received eight calls from Allstate in violation of § 227(b)(1)(A). Pacleb alleged he received five such calls. In Pacleb's case, the automated calls asked for an individual named Frank Arnold. Chen and Pacleb brought their claims "on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated," as members of a proposed class defined as:
In their first cause of action, for negligent violations of the TCPA, Chen and Pacleb sought for themselves and the members of the proposed class $500 in statutory damages for each violation and injunctive relief prohibiting such conduct in the future. In their second cause of action, for knowing or willful violations of the TCPA, they sought $1500 in statutory damages for each violation and similar injunctive relief. The plaintiffs subsequently abandoned their claims for knowing or willful violations of the TCPA.
In April 2013, before any motion for class certification had been made, Allstate made an offer of judgment to Chen and Pacleb under Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Allstate offered to allow judgment to be taken against it by Chen and Pacleb "on their individual claims in the amount of $15,000.00 and $10,000.00, respectively, together with reasonable attorneys' fees and costs that have been accrued to date." With respect to Chen and Pacleb's demand for injunctive relief, Allstate agreed "to stop sending non-emergency telephone calls and short message service messages to [them] in the future." The offer was made "solely for the purposes specified in Rule 68" and provided Chen and Pacleb 14 days to accept the offer in writing. The offer also directed Chen's and Pacleb's "attention to the provision of Rule 68 that provides that
When Chen and Pacleb did not accept the offer within 14 days, Allstate sent plaintiffs' counsel a letter purporting to extend the "offer of judgment until such time as it is accepted by plaintiffs or Allstate withdraws the offer in writing" and, the next day, moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Allstate argued "Plaintiffs' claims are moot because Allstate (without admitting liability) made an offer of judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 68 in an amount that is more than sufficient to satisfy all of Plaintiffs' alleged individual damages and non-monetary requests for relief." In Allstate's view, "[o]nce the defendant offers to satisfy the plaintiff's entire demand, there is no dispute to litigate, and a plaintiff who refuses to acknowledge this loses outright, under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), because he has no remaining stake." The plaintiffs' class claims "should also be dismissed as moot" because "no class certification motion has been filed." Allstate urged the court to enter judgment of dismissal "in its favor and against Plaintiffs with prejudice." While the motion to dismiss was pending, Chen accepted Allstate's Rule 68 offer. Pacleb did not.
The district court denied Allstate's motion to dismiss. The court did not squarely address whether Allstate's Rule 68 offer provided complete relief on Pacleb's individual claims for damages and injunctive relief. Nor did the court determine whether such an offer, if unaccepted, would moot Pacleb's individual claims. Instead, the court relied on this court's decision in Pitts v. Terrible Herbst, Inc., 653 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir.2011), to hold that, even if Pacleb's individual claims could be considered fully satisfied by the offer, the action as a whole continued to present a justiciable controversy affording Pacleb an opportunity to move for class certification. In doing so, the court rejected Allstate's argument that Pitts was no longer good law in light of the Supreme Court's intervening decision in Genesis Healthcare. The district court subsequently granted Allstate's motion to certify the order for interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), stating the court "would welcome the Ninth Circuit's view as to whether its Pitts decision remains good law in light of Genesis Healthcare." We granted permission to appeal. While the appeal was pending, we decided Gomez, 768 F.3d at 875-76, holding Pitts remains the law of this circuit after Genesis Healthcare.
Also while this appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided Campbell-Ewald. Campbell-Ewald confirmed that "an unaccepted settlement offer has no force." 136 S.Ct. at 666. "Like other unaccepted contract offers, it creates no lasting right or obligation." Id. "With the offer off the table, and the defendant's continuing denial of liability, adversity between the parties persists." Id.
Allstate seeks to take up that hypothetical here. Shortly after the Supreme Court issued Campbell-Ewald, Allstate deposited $20,000 in a bank escrow account "pending entry of a final District Court order or judgment directing the escrow agent to pay the tendered funds to Pacleb, requiring Allstate to stop sending non-emergency telephone calls and short message service messages to Pacleb in the future and dismissing this action as moot."
We review de novo the denial of a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See Botosan v. Paul McNally Realty, 216 F.3d 827, 830 (9th Cir.2000).
Allstate's theory of mootness turns on three contentions: (1) that the judgment it has consented to would afford Pacleb complete relief on his individual claims for damages and injunctive relief; (2) that the district court should be required to enter judgment on these terms, and that, once the court does so, Pacleb's individual claims will become moot; and (3) assuming Pacleb's individual claims become moot, the existence of his class allegations will be insufficient to preserve a live controversy. As explained below, we agree with Allstate's first contention, but reject its second and third arguments.
Pacleb argues the judgment Allstate has consented to would not afford him complete relief on his individual claims for damages and injunctive relief, because Allstate has neither admitted liability nor offered sufficiently broad injunctive relief. We disagree.
Pacleb contends Allstate has not agreed to complete relief because the judgment it has consented to would not include an
Pacleb, however, has not explained why, under the circumstances of this case, an admission of liability is necessary to afford him complete relief on his non-class claims. Pacleb's complaint sought only statutory damages and injunctive relief, not an admission of liability or a declaration that Allstate violated his rights. When a plaintiff has received "all the relief [he] could win on the merits," an adjudication would have no "consequences on remaining related disputes between the parties" and "nothing further would be ordered by the court, there is no point in proceeding to decide the merits." 13B Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3533.2 (3d ed.2015). See Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 721, 726-33, 184 L.Ed.2d 553 (2013) (holding a covenant not to sue mooted a counterclaim of trademark invalidity, notwithstanding the lack of an admission or finding of liability); McCauley v. Trans Union, LLC, 402 F.3d 340, 342 (2d Cir.2005) (holding a plaintiff "is not entitled to keep litigating his claim simply because [the defendant] has not admitted liability").
Pacleb alternatively contends Allstate has not agreed to complete relief on his individual claims because the judgment to which it has consented would not provide the full scope of injunctive relief he seeks in his complaint. He argues, "[g]iven the fact that [he] received calls from Allstate looking for a `Mr. Arnold,' errors in Allstate's phone records leave reason to doubt that a narrow injunction merely requiring Allstate to refrain from calling [him] would be effective." According to Pacleb, only a nationwide injunction enjoining Allstate from all violations of § 227(b)(1)(A) will afford him effective relief.
Pacleb is correct that he is not necessarily precluded from obtaining nationwide injunctive relief:
Easyriders Freedom F.I.G.H.T. v. Hannigan, 92 F.3d 1486, 1501-02 (9th Cir.1996) (citation omitted) (quoting Bresgal v. Brock, 843 F.2d 1163, 1170-71 (9th Cir. 1987)). Here, however, Pacleb has given us no reason to believe the injunctive relief to which Allstate has consented would be inadequate, or that he could obtain broader relief after a trial on the merits. Allstate, therefore, has consented to all the injunctive relief to which Pacleb individually is entitled.
In Allstate's view, if it is able to fully satisfy Pacleb's individual claims, the action as a whole will also be moot. We disagree. Even if, as Allstate proposes, the district court were to enter judgment providing complete relief on Pacleb's individual claims for damages and injunctive relief before class certification, fully satisfying those individual claims, Pacleb still would be entitled to seek certification. In Pitts, 653 F.3d at 1091, we observed that a named plaintiff's claim is "transitory in nature and may otherwise evade review"
Pitts, 653 F.3d at 1091-92 (footnote omitted).
Allstate argues Pitts is no longer good law in light of the Supreme Court's intervening decision in Genesis Healthcare, which questioned the application of "the `inherently transitory' relation-back rationale" to circumstances in which the transitory nature of the claim arises from "the defendant's litigation strategy" rather than "the fleeting nature of the challenged conduct giving rise to the claim." 133 S.Ct. at 1531. In Gomez, 768 F.3d at 875-76, however, we squarely rejected that very argument. Because Genesis Healthcare concerned collective actions brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) rather than class actions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, Gomez held Pitts was not clearly irreconcilable with Genesis Healthcare. See id. Although Genesis Healthcare "undermined some of the reasoning employed in Pitts ..., courts have universally concluded that the Genesis discussion does not apply to class actions." Id. at 875. "In fact, Genesis itself emphasizes that `Rule 23 [class] actions are fundamentally different from collective actions under the FLSA.'" Id. at 875-76 (alteration in original) (quoting Genesis Healthcare, 133 S.Ct. at 1529).
Because Gomez's holding that Pitts is not clearly irreconcilable with Genesis Healthcare is not itself clearly irreconcilable with intervening Supreme Court authority, we are bound by Gomez. See Miller v. Gammie, 335 F.3d 889, 892-93 (9th Cir.2003) (en banc) (holding "a three-judge panel may [not] reexamine normally
Furthermore, even if Pitts were not controlling, we would reject Allstate's attempt to moot this action before Pacleb has had a fair opportunity to seek certification. That is, even if Allstate could moot the entire action by getting the district court to enter judgment in favor of Pacleb on his individual claims before he has had a fair opportunity to move for certification, we would decline Allstate's invitation to direct the district court to take that action.
As noted, Allstate recently deposited $20,000 in escrow and proposed entry of judgment favorable to Pacleb on his individual claims for damages and injunctive relief. Allstate contends its actions invoke the hypothetical question reserved in Campbell-Ewald — whether a case becomes moot when "a defendant deposits the full amount of the plaintiff's individual claim in an account payable to the plaintiff, and the court then enters judgment for the plaintiff in that amount." 136 S.Ct. at 672. Allstate argues we must direct the district court to enter judgment and dismiss both Pacleb's individual claims and the action as a whole as moot.
As an initial matter, Allstate does not dispute that its actions to date — depositing $20,000 in escrow on Pacleb's individual damages claim and agreeing to an injunction on his individual injunctive relief claim — do not afford Pacleb any actual relief, and thus do not moot his individual claims for damages and injunctive relief.
As we read Campbell-Ewald, a lawsuit — or an individual claim — becomes moot when a plaintiff actually receives all of the relief he or she could receive on the claim through further litigation. Campbell-Ewald cited a trio of railroad cases that reenforce this view. In San Mateo County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., 116 U.S. 138, 141, 6 S.Ct. 317, 29 L.Ed. 589 (1885), the county sued the railroad for unpaid taxes and the railroad paid the county a sum exceeding the taxes, penalties, attorney's fees and interest sought in the lawsuit. Noting the "debt for which the suit was brought has been unconditionally paid and satisfied," the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding "there is no longer an existing cause of action in favor of the county against the railroad company." Id. at 141-42, 6 S.Ct. 317. In Little v. Bowers, 134 U.S. 547, 10 S.Ct. 620, 33 L.Ed. 1016 (1890), the taxes in dispute again were fully paid while the appeal was pending. Relying on San Mateo County, the Court dismissed the appeal due to the absence of an "actual controversy, involving real and substantial rights, between the parties." Id. at 556-58, 10 S.Ct. 620. In California v. San Pablo & Tulare Railroad Co., 149 U.S. 308, 13 S.Ct. 876, 37 L.Ed. 747 (1893), California sued the railroad to recover taxes. The railroad tendered to the state a sum of money equal to the taxes, penalties, interest and attorney's fees at issue in the litigation. See id. at 311-12, 13 S.Ct. 876. Although the state did not accept the tender, the railroad deposited the funds in a bank in
Id. at 313-14, 13 S.Ct. 876.
Our own decisions are consistent with this view: a claim becomes moot once the plaintiff actually receives all of the relief to which he or she is entitled on the claim. See, e.g., Back v. Sebelius, 684 F.3d 929, 933 (9th Cir.2012) ("Because the Secretary has already created the administrative appeals process that Back seeks, `no present controversy exists as to which [we] can grant effective relief.'") (alteration in original) (quoting Vegas Diamond Props., LLC v. FDIC, 669 F.3d 933, 936 (9th Cir.2012)).
Under this line of cases, Pacleb's individual claims for damages and injunctive relief are not now moot. "A case becomes moot only when it is impossible for a court to grant `any effectual relief whatever to the prevailing party.'" Knox v. Serv. Emps. Int'l Union, Local 1000, ___ U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 2277, 2287, 183 L.Ed.2d 281 (2012) (quoting Erie v. Pap's A.M., 529 U.S. 277, 287, 120 S.Ct. 1382, 146 L.Ed.2d 265 (2000)). Here, Pacleb has not yet received any relief on his individual claims for damages or injunctive relief. His claims are wholly unsatisfied, and it remains entirely possible for a court to grant him effectual relief. See Campbell-Ewald, 136 S.Ct. at 672. At this moment, therefore, Allstate's actions plainly have not mooted Pacleb's individual claims.
Under the common law doctrine of tender, there may have been occasions when the deposit of money in court could be "treated as the equivalent of an actual payment to and acceptance by the plaintiff." Robert G. Bone, "To Encourage Settlement": Rule 68, Offers of Judgment, and the History of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 102 Nw. U.L.Rev. 1561, 1585 (2008). At most, however, that principle applied when the defendant unconditionally relinquished its entire interest in the deposited funds. See id. at 1586 ("The
In sum, Pacleb's individual claims are not now moot, because he has not actually received all of the relief to which he is entitled on those claims.
The question remains whether we should, as Allstate urges, instruct the district court to order monetary and injunctive relief on Pacleb's individual claims, thereby mooting them, before Pacleb has had an opportunity to move for class certification. We assume, without deciding, a court has authority in an appropriate case to enter judgment for complete relief on a plaintiff's individual claims over the plaintiff's objection. Cf. Diaz, 732 F.3d at 955 (recognizing a court may have discretion to halt a lawsuit — or, as relevant here, particular claims — by entering judgment for the plaintiff when the defendant "unconditionally surrenders and only the plaintiff's obstinacy or madness prevents her from accepting total victory" (quoting Genesis Healthcare, 133 S.Ct. at 1536) (Kagan, J., dissenting) (internal quotation marks omitted)).
This conclusion is consistent not only with Campbell-Ewald but also with previous Supreme Court decisions noting a named plaintiff's "`personal stake' in obtaining class certification," Geraghty, 445 U.S. at 404, 100 S.Ct. 1202, recognizing "[s]ome claims are so inherently transitory that the trial court will not have even enough time to rule on a motion for class certification before the proposed representative's individual interest expires," id. at 399, 100 S.Ct. 1202, and disapproving of the "picking off" of named plaintiffs to deny a would-be class representative a fair opportunity to seek class relief, see Roper, 445 U.S. at 339, 100 S.Ct. 1166. As the Court said in Roper, 445 U.S. at 339, 100 S.Ct. 1166, "[r]equiring multiple plaintiffs to bring separate actions, which effectively could be `picked off' by a defendant's tender of judgment before an affirmative ruling on class certification could be obtained, obviously would frustrate the objectives of class actions." But cf. Genesis Healthcare, 133 S.Ct. at 1529-32 (applying these authorities narrowly in the FLSA collective action context).
Contrary to Allstate's argument, our conclusion is also consistent with the proposition that "a court may have `discretion to halt a lawsuit by entering judgment for the plaintiff when the defendant unconditionally surrenders and only the plaintiff's obstinacy or madness prevents her from accepting total victory.'" Diaz, 732 F.3d at 955 (quoting Genesis Healthcare, 133 S.Ct. at 1536 (Kagan, J., dissenting)). A named plaintiff exhibits neither obstinacy nor madness by declining an offer of judgment on individual claims in order to pursue relief on behalf of members of a class. As the Supreme Court has recognized, the class action device is often the only effective means of pursuing relief on behalf of injured persons. "Where it is not economically feasible to obtain relief within the traditional framework of a multiplicity of small individual suits for damages, aggrieved persons may be without any effective redress unless they may employ the class-action device." Roper, 445 U.S. at 339, 100 S.Ct. 1166. A named plaintiff acts sensibly by pursuing all of the relief sought in the complaint, and "a judgment satisfying an individual claim does not give a [named] plaintiff ..., exercising her right to sue on behalf of other employees, `all that [she] has ... requested in the complaint (i.e., relief for the class).'" Genesis Healthcare, 133 S.Ct. at 1536 (Kagan, J., dissenting) (third and fourth alterations in original) (quoting Roper, 445 U.S. at 341, 100 S.Ct. 1166 (Rehnquist, J., concurring)).
Our approach is also consistent with leading treatises on federal procedure. According to Wright & Miller, "[i]f the defendant is willing to consent to judgment on terms that embrace all the relief the plaintiff could win on the merits, the action may be found moot." 13B Charles Alan
Finally, our conclusion is consistent with district court decisions issued since Campbell-Ewald was decided. See Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley v. Graduation Source, LLC, ___ F.Supp.3d. ___, No. 14-cv-3232 (NSR), 2016 WL 872914, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 7, 2016) ("Although Defendants sought to avail themselves of the hypothetical proposed in Campbell-Ewald by depositing the full amount of statutory damages into the Court's Finance Unit and assenting to the injunctive relief requested by Plaintiff in its Complaint, ... this Court is bound by Campbell-Ewald to afford Plaintiff a fair opportunity to show that class certification is warranted.... [If] after discovery Plaintiff fails to certify a class, Defendants may renew their request to issue judgment in favor of Plaintiff based upon a complete offer of relief."); Brady v. Basic Research, LLC, 312 F.R.D. 304, 306 (E.D.N.Y.2016) (precluding a defendant from using Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 67 to moot a case before a plaintiff has had a fair opportunity to pursue class certification).
In sum, a district court should decline to enter a judgment affording complete relief on a named plaintiff's individual claims, over the plaintiff's objection, before the plaintiff has had a fair opportunity to move for class certification. See id. In this way, even if Pitts were not controlling, a live controversy would persist until the question of class certification could be addressed.
We hold the judgment Allstate has consented to would afford Pacleb complete relief on his individual claims for damages and injunctive relief. To date, however, Pacleb has not actually received complete relief on those claims. Those claims, therefore, are not now moot. In addition, because "a would-be class representative with a live claim of her own must be accorded a fair opportunity to show that certification is warranted," id., we will not,
Allstate's motion to supplement the record on appeal, filed February 12, 2016, is