United States Third Circuit

Denial of class certification and grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants on plaintiff's claims for alleged violations of the Eighth Amendment and the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) is vacated as to the denial of class certification and as to the grant of summary judgment on the Eighth Amendment claim, but affirmed as to the dismissal of the FTCA claim, where: 1) the district court erred in concluding that the class was overly broad because some putative class members have not yet suffered an injury, as under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, there is no requirement that every class member suffer an injury before a class is certifiable; 2) the district court granted summary judgment to defendants without even considering the declaration that plaintiff's attorney filed in response to defendants' motion for summary judgment, which was an abuse of discretion; and 3) plaintiff's failure to exhaust its FTCA claim deprived the court of jurisdiction to hear that claim.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/07/2015
• Published 01/07/2015

Judges

• McKee

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel