Dukes v. Wal-Mart: What It May Mean for Mass Torts

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Three new Supreme Court decisions to comment on this week. Let's take one at a time and start with Dukes v. Wal-Mart, 564 U.S. __ (2011). The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday overturned a lower-court decision that had certified a massive class action against retailer Wal-Mart. The suit was filed by current or former employees of petitioner Wal-Mart, who sought judgment against the company for injunctive and declaratory relief, punitive damages, and backpay, on behalf of themselves and a class of some 1.5 million female employees. They claimed that local managers exercised their discretion over pay and promotions disproportionately in favor of men.

The District Court certified the class, finding that respondents satisfied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2)’s requirement of showing that “the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds that apply generally to the class, so that final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief is appropriate respecting the class as a whole.” The Ninth Circuit substantially affirmed,and ruled that the class action could be "manageably" tried without depriving Wal-Mart of its right to present its statutory defenses.

We will leave to our colleagues on the Labor team how this decision impacts employee discrimination claims. But let's talk about the larger potential significance of the decision for mass tort class actions.

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