In re Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Overtime Pay Litigation
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
527 F.Supp. 2d 1053 (N.D. Cal. 2007)
Current and former non-California Home Mortgage Consultants (HMCs) at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (defendant) sued alleging Fair Labor Standards Act and California Unfair Competition Law violations, seeking to certify a roughly 15,000-person nationwide class. Wells Fargo challenged certification, arguing the plaintiffs' supporting declarations were suspiciously similar and disproportionately drawn from just two Midwest branches out of 1,600 nationwide offices, that some declarants worked in an atypical temporary refinance office, and that most HMCs actually preferred the existing commission system and wouldn't benefit from a class action.
Whether a class must satisfy all of the requirements set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 in order to be properly certified.