United States Fifth Circuit

In defendant's appeal from the district court's order certifying a class in an action alleging violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act (RESPA), the order is reversed where the applicable Department of Housing and Urban Development liability standard required an inquiry into the reasonableness of the payments for goods and services at issue, and because that inquiry must be performed on a transaction-by-transaction basis, the plaintiffs did not meet the predominance requirement for class certification.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/10/2009
• Published 12/10/2009

Judges

• W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge:, Before KING, DAVIS and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Keith R. Verges, Figari & Davenport, L.L.P., Dallas, TX, for Lawyers Title Ins. Corp., Robert J. Fogarty, Hahn, Loeser & Parks, Cleveland, OH, Karin Britt Torgerson, Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell, L.L.P., Dallas, TX, for Chicago Title Ins. Co.


• For Appellees:
  
• Eric G. Calhoun (argued), Travis & Calhoun, P.C., Dallas, TX, Katherine B. Bornstein, Edward W. Ciolko, Peter A. Muhic, Barroway, Topaz, Kessler, Meltzer & Check, L.L.P., Radnor, PA, for Plaintiffs-Appellees., John A. Koepke, Scott M. McElhaney, Jackson Walker, L.L.P., Dallas, TX, Jeffrey E. Crane, Kevin Michael Fee, Gerard D. Kelly (argued), Sidley Austin, L.L.P., Aaron Seth Mandel, Loevy & Loevy, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.