JEROME B. SIMANDLE, Chief Judge.
This matter comes before the Court by way of Plaintiff Kathy Smith's (hereinafter, "Plaintiff") pre-answer motion for class certification. [Docket Item 3.] Plaintiff filed the initial Class Action Complaint in this litigation on September 3, 2014, alleging that Defendant Interline Brands, Inc. (hereinafter, "Defendant") distributes defective polymeric coupling nuts. (Class Action Compl. At ¶¶ 1-6.) Defendant has not at this time filed a response to Plaintiff's Complaint, nor does the docket reflect that Plaintiff has successfully effectuated service of the Complaint. Despite the posture of this litigation, Plaintiff filed the pending motion for class certification on September 11, 2014, approximately one week after the filing of her initial pleading. [Docket Item 3.]
In the motion — bereft of the detail necessary for the purposes of a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 analysis — Plaintiff recognizes the premature nature of the filing, but asserts that such filing is necessary in order to thwart any strategic attempt by Defendant to "`pick off'" Plaintiff by extending an offer of judgment under Rule 68 as to Plaintiff's individual claim, thereby purportedly precluding her from serving as class representative with respect to the putative class claims. (Pl.'s Br. at 1.) Rather than entertain the motion on its merits, Plaintiff therefore requests that the Court hold consideration of the motion in abeyance pending completion of class discovery. (Id. at 2.)
In so requesting, Plaintiff relies upon the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's ruling that, "[c]lass action plaintiffs can move to certify the class at the same time they file their complaint ... then they can also ask the district court to delay its ruling to provide time for additional discovery or investigation." Damasco v. Clearwire Corp., 662 F.3d 891, 896 (7th Cir.2011). The Seventh Circuit's expression, however, arose out of a rule unique to that Circuit, namely, that "a defendant can render moot a possible class action by offering to settle for the full amount of the plaintiff's demand before the plaintiff files a motion for class certification." McMahon v. LVNV Funding, LLC, 744 F.3d 1010, 1018 (7th Cir.2014) (emphasis in original). The rule "spawned fears by the plaintiffs' bar that defendants might `pick off' or `buy off' a putative class representative via [an] unaccepted offer of judgment, thereby mooting a class action before the plaintiff had been able to complete the necessary discovery to file a Rule 23 motion." Church v. Accretive Health, Inc., 299 F.R.D. 676, 677 (S.D.Ala.2014). In order to assuage such concerns, the Seventh Circuit noted the existence of a "simple solution for a putative class representative who wishes to avoid mootness or buy-off: move to certify the class" contemporaneous with the filing of the complaint. McMahon, 744 F.3d at 1018.
The Seventh Circuit rule, however, does not govern this proceeding, nor is such rule dispositive of the pending motion, particularly in light of the contrary and binding Third Circuit authority. Indeed, the Third Circuit mandated a far more flexible approach in Weiss v. Regal Collections, 385 F.3d 337, 348 (3d Cir.2004), and specifically found the "appropriate course" in the event "a defendant makes a Rule 68 offer
IT IS this 26th day of September,
ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for class certification [Docket Item 3] shall be, and hereby is,