Ross v. Gossett

Dist. Ct. did not err in certifying for class action treatment under Rule 23 plaintiffs-prisoners’ section 1983 action against defendants-22 prison supervisors in various prison facilities, alleging that defendants generated plan in violation of 8th Amendment to conduct prison-wide shakedowns of prisoners, where plaintiffs asserted that planning and executing of plan was designed to inflict pain and humiliation on inmates. Both parties agreed that shakedowns occurred and were executed according to uniform plan under defendants' supervision, and Dist. Ct. could properly find that plaintiffs satisfied commonality factor for purposes of class action certification, where plaintiffs alleged that defendants acted pursuant to common policy and implemented same or similar procedures at each prison facility. Also, Dist. Ct. could properly determine that common issues of liability established predominance factor for purposes of class action certification. Ct. rejected defendants’ contention that cases against supervisors are poorly suited for class-wide resolution, where instant case is premised on constitutionality of procedures that were part of plan designed and implemented by defendants.