In re Cupertino Electric Inc. Litigation

[2] 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 SAN JOSE DIVISION [6] 7 KEVIN CROWL, Case No. 23-cv-04007-BLF 8 Plaintiff, ORDER CONSOLIDATING CASES 9 v. [Re: ECF No. 14] 10 CUPERTINO ELECTRIC, INC., 11 Defendant. 12 JAY WISE, Case No. 23-cv-04232-BLF 13 Plaintiff, 14 v. 15 CUPERTINO ELECTRIC, INC., 16 Defendant. [17] 18 Before the Court is Plaintiffs Kevin Crowl and Jay Wise’s motion to consolidate Crowl v. 19 Cupertino Electric, Inc., 5:23-cv-04007-BLF (N.D. Cal.), and Wise v. Cupertino Electric, Inc., 20 5:23-cv-04232-BLF (N.D. Cal.). ECF No. 14. Defendant Cupertino Electric, Inc. does not 21 oppose the motion. The Court finds the motion appropriate for disposition without oral argument, 22 and hereby VACATES the hearing scheduled for March 28, 2024. See Civ. L.R. 7-1(b). 23 For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS the motion. 24 I. LEGAL STANDARD 25 “If actions before the court involve a common question of law or fact, the court may . . . 26 consolidate the actions.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a)(2). District courts have “broad discretion under 27 [Rule 42(a)] to consolidate cases pending in the same district.” Investors Research Co. v. U.S. 1 whether or not to consolidate cases, the Court should weigh the interest of judicial convenience 2 against the potential for delay, confusion and prejudice.” Bodri v. Gopro, Inc., 2016 WL 3 1718217, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 28, 2016) (quotation marks omitted) (quoting Zhu v. UCBH 4 Holdings, Inc., 682 F.Supp.2d 1049, 1052 (N.D. Cal. 2010)). 5 II. DISCUSSION 6 The Crowl and Wise actions, which are both pending before the Court, present similar 7 factual and legal issues, as they each involve the same subject matter and are based on the same 8 alleged wrongful conduct. Compare Crowl ECF No. 1 (“Crowl Compl.”), with Wise ECF No. 1 9 (“Wise Compl.”). Both cases bring class claims against Cupertino Electric related to a data breach 10 discovered by Cupertino Electric on June 24, 2023. See Crowl Compl. ¶ 1, Wise Compl. ¶ 2. 11 Crowl and Wise allege that class members’ sensitive personally identifiable information (“PII”) 12 was compromised by the data breach and that Cupertino Electric failed to adequately protect class 13 members’ PII from the data breach. See Crowl Compl. ¶¶ 1–2, 24–48; Wise Compl. ¶¶ 4, 39–74. 14 Both cases define a nationwide class of all people whose PII was exposed or compromised by the 15 data breach. Compare Crowl Compl. ¶ 85, with Wise Compl. ¶ 30. Similarly, both cases bring 16 claims of negligence, negligence per se, breach of implied contract, breach of implied covenant of 17 good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, and for declaratory and injunctive relief. Compare 18 Crowl Compl. ¶¶ 95–181, with Wise Compl. ¶¶ 99–188. Crowl brings an additional claim under 19 the California UCL and Wise brings additional claims for breach of confidence and breach of 20 fiduciary duty. Because the two cases are based on the same subject matter and alleged wrongful 21 conduct, define substantially similar classes, and bring substantially similar claims, the Court finds 22 that the same discovery and class certification issues will be relevant to both actions. Thus, 23 consolidation will conserve judicial resources and reduce the time and cost of trying the cases 24 separately. As such, the Court finds that consolidation is appropriate and will grant the motion to 25 consolidate Crowl and Wise. 26 III. CONCLUSION 27 For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 1 Electric, Inc., No. 23-cv-4007, and Wise v. Cupertino Electric Inc. No. 23-cv-4232) are 2 || CONSOLIDATED for all purposes. 3 2. The consolidated action will be captioned In re Cupertino Electric Inc. Litigation 4 || and all future filings will be filed in No. 23-cv-4007. The Court ORDERS that the Clerk of the 5 Court administratively close No. 23-cv-4232. 6 3. Counsel for Crowl and Wise shall propose a schedule for filing a consolidated 7 complaint and file the proposed schedule within 10 days of the date of this Order. [8] 9 Dated: December 6, 2023 10 fence BETH LABSON FREEMAN 11 United States District Judge [12] © [16] = 17 Z 18