Favorable Ruling From Trial Court Denying Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification

Mark Perry and Mary Montoro successfully opposed Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification.  In an Order issued on July 21, 2017, Judge James A. Gibbons denied Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification in a Lackawanna County case, Scarnato and Dugan v. The Scranton Endoscopy Center, et al., No. 2014-CV-5339.  In their Class Action Complaint, Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants failed to appropriately clean and disinfect colonoscopes in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions, allegedly subjecting the Plaintiffs and hundreds of putative class members to colonoscopies with improperly disinfected instruments and potential exposure to infections and/or illnesses.  In his Memorandum & Order denying class certification, Judge Gibbons held that Plaintiffs failed to adequately demonstrate the numerosity required by Pa.R.Civ.P. 1702(1), as Defendants established through discovery that the proposed class included only forty-seven (47) patients, all of which had been identified, notified, informed of the potential risks, and offered free testing.  The Court did not consider Defendants’ arguments concerning the remaining four (4) elements of Rule 1702, as it was determined that Plaintiffs had not established the first element.  Thus, pursuant to Pa.R.Civ.P. 1710(e), Judge Gibbon ordered this action to proceed against Defendants by the named Plaintiffs alone.