Gomez v. St. Vincent Health, Inc.

In action alleging that defendant violated ERISA by failing to give timely COBRA notices to departing employees, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying motion for class certification, after finding that proposed class attorney was inadequate to represent class. Dist. Ct. could properly base denial on counsel's competency and attitude by looking to prior identical case, where another Dist. Ct. judge had denied similar motion filed by same attorney due to said attorney's failure to abide by discovery orders and where same attorney had failed to appeal denial of class certification motion in prior case. Dist. Ct. also did not err in denying plaintiffs' request for statutory damages on their individual claims where: (1) defendant had oversight system that attempted to determine existence of any untimely COBRA notices; (2) plaintiffs failed to establish any prejudice upon receiving untimely COBRA notice; and (3) defendant took immediate corrective measures once it became aware of untimely COBRA notices.