Chicken Delight, Inc. v. George B. Harris, District Judge, Harvey S. Siegel, Real Parties in Interest

ORDER

In a Petition for Writ of Mandamus, the Petitioners challenge a portion of an Order issued by the District Court on March 5,1969.

The Real Parties in Interest, Plaintiffs below, are five of some six-hundred fifty franchisees of the Petitioners who seek treble damages for Petitioners’ alleged unlawful monopolistic practices. They successfully advanced their contention that their suit was properly maintainable as a class action under Rule 23(a) and (b) (3), Fed.R.Civ.P. Siegel v. Chicken Delight, Inc., 271 F.Supp. 722 (N.D.Cal.1967). Discovery proceedings followed, after which a dispute arose concerning the issues which might properly be set forth by the Real Parties in Interest in their contemplated notices to all members of the class. District Judge Harris, the Respondent here, resolved the controversy by the issuance of the Order in question. The Order authorized the Real Parties in Interest to include, in their class notices, two alleged issues. The first of these, which the parties call “the requirements issue,” is relative to certain provisions in Petitioners’ standard forms of franchise agreements, and the Petitioners do not here question the propriety of…