Burks v. White River Valley Electric Cooperative (Missouri) (1031-CV10307)

After voluntarily dismissing their case this past spring, two former members of the White River Valley Electric Cooperative recently re-filed their patronage capital suit in another Missouri county. This class action suit (filed July 12, 2010) is still based on White River’s failure to refund capital credits, but with two significant changes.

First, the plaintiffs have dropped current members from the proposed class, which now includes only former members. This change may be in response to White River’s motion to dismiss filed in the prior case. White River argued that a conflict of interest existed between the current and former members of the proposed class, because the return of capital credits would force the current members of the cooperative to pay more for electric service. Additionally, at least one trial court in another patronage capital case has denied class certification based, in part, on conflicts between current and former members. Denton County Electric Cooperative, Inc. d/b/a/ CoServ Electric v. Glover (Texas) (2009-10087-16).