Jensen

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JAIME JENSEN, Case No. 17-cv-03193-VC

Plaintiff,

ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR

v. CLASS CERTIFICATION

NATROL, LLC, Re: Dkt. No. 120 Defendant.

For the reasons discussed at the hearing, the motion for class certification is denied without prejudice to filing a renewed motion on a stronger evidentiary record. To summarize: 1. Jensen appears to concede (correctly) that Natrol is not liable to people who take biotin supplements to alleviate biotinidase deficiency or other rare biotin-related genetic disorders. Yet she seeks to certify a class of all people who purchased Natrol’s biotin supplements—including people who have those rare disorders. Such a class cannot be certified. Under Ninth Circuit law, it must be at least “possible” that each class member suffered an injury at the hands of the defendant. Torres v. Mercer Canyons Inc., 835 F.3d 1125, 1137 n.6 (9th Cir. 2016). More generally, the class definition must be “reasonably co-extensive” with the plaintiff’s “chosen theory of liability.” Id. at 1136-37. If the proposed class includes a distinct subset…