Merrill Lynch Settles Discrimination Suit for $160m - Aberration or New Normal?
A class action that aggregates the claims of individual plaintiffs against a common defendant can promote judicial economy and maximize efficiency. However, even the pursuit of class certification can promote abuse. In the...more
In its 2011 Dukes decision, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the circumstances under which groups of employees can maintain class action claims relating to their employment. In that case, the Court concluded that Wal-Mart...more
On February 13, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia, the anchor of the Court’s conservative wing for nearly three decades, passed away. He leaves behind a distinguished legal career that involved experience in wide range of roles....more
A recent Sixth Circuit decision that affirmed certification of a multi-state consumer class action asserting false advertising claims concerning Align – a Proctor & Gamble probiotic product promising digestive health benefits...more
On July 7, the Sixth Circuit decided Phipps v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 13-6194, 2015 WL 4079441 (6th Cir. July 7, 2015), an interlocutory appeal in one of the regional progeny of the U.S. Supreme Court’s famous decision in...more
In This Issue: - The Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2015 - Class Certification Decisions: ..Decisions Granting Motions to Strike/Dismiss Class Claims ..Decisions Denying Motions to...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied certification in a false advertising case brought under California’s False Advertising Law (FAL), Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) and the Unfair...more
The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently issued a case involving the straight-forward application of the Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011),...more
On February 24, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in three “moldy” washing machine class actions, which presented questions regarding Fed. R. Civ. P. 23’s commonality and predominance requirements as clarified by...more
The Third Circuit rejected plaintiffs’ arguments that the district court abused its discretion by overstepping its authority in declining to certify a settlement class and in misapplying Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, in...more
Several opinions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court during the past few years have made it more difficult for plaintiffs to obtain class certification. Despite the hurdles erected by the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in...more
On May 30, 2013, the Sixth Circuit issued its decision in Davis v. Cintas Corporation, Case No. 10-1662 (6th Cir. May 30, 2013), in which it upheld a district court’s refusal to certify a disparate impact Title VII case, but...more
In Wang v. Chinese Daily News, the Ninth Circuit reversed the class certification it had previously affirmed and remanded the matter for further consideration of Rule 23(a) commonality and Rule 23(b)(3) predominance. ...more
In a recent case, Miller v. Countrywide Bank (In re Countrywide Financial Corp. Mortgage Lending Practices Litigation), — F.3d —, No. 12-5250, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 924 (6th Cir. Jan. 15, 2013), the Sixth Circuit provided more...more
The Eighth Circuit recently reaffirmed one of the central holdings of Dukes v. Wal-Mart—commonality is no longer a “rubber stamp.” In Luiken v. Domino’s Pizza, a Domino’s delivery driver sought to represent a class of about...more