The second of our Supreme Court trilogy for the week. The Court ruled last week in Smith v. Bayer Corp., No. 09-1205, that a federal district court was prevented by the the Anti-Injunction Act from enjoining a state court from entertaining plaintiff's motion to certify a class action even when that federal court had earlier denied a similar motion to certify an overlapping class in a closely related case.

Generally, the Anti-Injunction Act bars a federal court from granting injunctions to stay proceedings in state courts except where specifically authorized by Congress, or "where necessary in aid of its jurisdiction, or to protect or effectuate its judgments." Most of our readers hoped that the Court would agree with the lower courts' ruling that this was just such an exception.

The Smith case involved the issue whether a federal court can enjoin class members from bringing a product liability class suit in a state court after the federal court declined to certify a similar class. Specifically, the Baycol MDL court in Minnesota had denied class certification, and the court of appeals upheld the injunction barring plaintiffs from bringing virtually the same suit in West Virginia state court. The federal court of appeals in fact unanimously affirmed, holding that the injunction was authorized by the All Writs Act and the re-litigation exception to the Anti-Injunction Act, and that petitioners did not have a due process right to re-litigate class certification.

The Supreme Court, unfortunately, reversed, in a decision that may encourage forum shopping.