Ernest Brown v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, 350 F.3d 338 (2003)

Citation: Ernest Brown v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, 350 F.3d 338 (2003)
Parent Document: Ernest Brown v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, 350 F.3d 338 (2003)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2003-11-19
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/784254/ernest-brown-v-philadelphia-hous... ↗

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In Doe v. Bush, 261 F.3d 1037 (11th Cir.2001), cert denied, 534 U.S. 1104, 122 S.Ct. 903, 151 L.Ed.2d 872 (2002), the final case cited by the Browns in favor of a doctrine of "implied class certification," plaintiffs were thirteen developmentally disabled people on the waiting list for entry into intermediate care facilities who brought a § 1983 suit on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated against officials of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in 1992, alleging that the long waiting lists violated the Medicaid Act and the Social Security Act. 261 F.3d at 1041-42. Plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification in 1992, but the court took no action on this request for four years. In 1996, the magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation that the class should be certified. Id. at 1043. Two days later, the district court granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs and denied as moot all of the plaintiffs' pending motions — including, presumably, the motion for class certification. Id. at 1043. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed. Id. Thereafter, plaintiffs sought to enforce the summary judgment order by filing a motion for contempt, the district court found the defendants in contempt, and the defendants appealed, claiming that they were not obligated to comply with the order on a class-wide basis, because the suit was never certified as a class action. Id. at 1048. Then in 2000, the district court, sua sponte and without notice to the parties, entered an order adopting the magistrate judge's report and recommendation and certifying the class. Id. at 1043.

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