Merit Energy Company, LLC, et al. v. Cherry Rider, Trustee of the Cherry Rider Family Trust, et al.

In 2008, defendant-petitioner OXY USA, Inc. (“Oxy”) settled a dispute with a class of mineral interest owners in a Kansas natural gas field. In 2014, defendant-petitioner Merit Hugoton, L.P. acquired Oxy’s assets in the area. Plaintiffs-Respondents alleged that petitioners breached the 2008 settlement agreement and sought class certification. They initially proposed a class defined by membership in the settlement, but later sought to certify a broader class. The district court denied certification because it found, inter alia, that class membership could not be ascertained in any administratively feasible way and that the putative class included innumerable members without standing to sue under the settlement. The Tenth Circuit reversed on both issues and ordered the class to be certified. The questions presented are:

1. Whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 permits certification of a damages class even though the district court finds that there is no administratively feasible way to ascertain members of the proposed class.

2. Whether Article III and Rule 23 permit certification of a damages class where the class is defined to include members who lack standing and undisputed evidence tends to show that the number of members who lack standing is not de minimis.