Peters v. Blockbuster, Inc.

This appeal involves one of many pending dueling class actions against Blockbuster, Inc. All the class actions relate to Blockbuster’s charging of fees for rental items. The plaintiffs, Kim Ann Scott and Malia Knight, and Blockbuster settled the case below and the trial court certified a class for settlement purposes. Appellants, Brian Peters, Scott Crutchfield, Ivan Mickey Holtzman, Cherie Robinson, and Sherita Harrison are unnamed members of the proposed class. In general they claim on appeal that this class should be decertified because of claimed procedural irregularities and because the plaintiffs are allegedly not adequate class representatives or their claims are not typical of the class. In addition, this appeal challenges the class notice, the amendments to the order while this appeal was pending, and the trial court’s proceeding with this case despite the existence of “more mature” cases. Blockbuster, Scott, and Knight respond that the trial court acted appropriately, that plaintiffs are adequate representatives of the class, and that their claims are typical of the class. We affirm for the reasons stated below.

Facts