Seyfarth Synopsis: As profiled in our recent publication of the 13th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings have a profound impact on employers and the tools they may utilize to...more
This past Supreme Court Term included several closely-watched cases. One of the most studied was Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, in which the Court identified at least one area of class action litigation where using statistical...more
As the Supreme Court begins its new term, the trajectory of its recent class certification guidance will be a key issue for many. The spring and summer of 2016 delivered significant new contours in class certification...more
This past March, we blogged about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bouaphakeo v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), a case in which the plaintiffs alleged that Tyson Foods improperly denied compensation for time...more
Minor league baseball players took a swing at class certification, and they missed—badly. In Senne v. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp., et al., minor league baseball players across the country asserted wage and hour...more
Potential plaintiffs and freshly sued defendants often discount the importance of damages analysis when it comes to litigation planning and execution. After all, disputes over liability receive far more attention during...more
On March 22, 2016, the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), addressing the question of when statistical sampling evidence may be used to establish class-wide liability. ...more
The Defense Research Institute (DRI) will be hosting its annual class action seminar in Washington, D.C. on July 21-22, 2016. If you haven’t been, this is the year to go. If you’ve been before, you won’t want to miss this...more
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Tyson Foods and in light of the greater emphasis on proportionality in the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, defendants can expect to see an increase in the use of sampling in...more
Employee Who Needed To Assist Disabled Son Could Proceed With "Associational Disability Discrimination" Claim - Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, Inc., 246 Cal. App. 4th 180 (2016) - Luis...more
A U.S. Supreme Court decision expected to potentially change (or at least clarify) the rules on the hot-button issue of statistical modeling in class actions ended up turning much more on case law specific to the Fair Labor...more
This is the 11th edition of The Class Action Chronicle, a quarterly publication that provides an analysis of recent class action trends, along with a summary of class certification and Class Action Fairness Act rulings issued...more
Statistics are kind of a holy grail of class action litigation. Everyone seems to know that they exist, but their understanding is shadowy and the quest to find valid statistical models often proves elusive. Last month’s...more
On March 22, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo. For those unfamiliar with the case, Tyson Foods is a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case that involved an alleged failure to pay...more
Plaintiffs can count the first class action decision to be issued by the U.S. Supreme Court since the death of Justice Scalia as a win; although, they did not receive broad authorization to proceed carte blanche, as some had...more
Supreme Court Gives Stamp of Approval to Representative Statistical Evidence - Why it matters - In a closely watched case, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the use of representative statistical evidence for...more
In a much-anticipated decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recently affirmed a $2.9 million judgment in a class action for unpaid overtime wages against Tyson Foods Inc. (Tyson) in which employee class members relied on...more
Expectations were high in the class action world for the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo. At first blush, however, Tyson seems to be neither the test case nor the blockbuster decision that...more
Is Labor Law Putting the Franchise Business Model at Risk? - Over the course of the last year, we have kept you abreast of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case law and Department of Labor (DOL) interpretive/...more
Wal-Mart may have felt the first aftershock of the Supreme Court’s March 2016 opinion in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, which undercut overbroad interpretations of its landmark 2011 Wal-Mart v. Dukes decision and found that...more
On March 22, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class action Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo. In an opinion authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the majority held that class...more
In 6-2 decision, the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a jury verdict in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo but declined to impose a broad rule for use of representative evidence. On March 22, the US Supreme Court affirmed...more
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Tyson Foods v. Bouahapeko affirms the use, in some circumstances, of “representative” statistical evidence that produced average times for donning and doffing personal protective gear,...more
If you read one thing... - SCOTUS declines to adopt broad or categorical rules governing use of representative evidence in class actions, holding instead that the use of such evidence will depend on the purpose for...more
Last week’s Quick Study observed that the U.S. Supreme Court in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 2016 WL 1092414 (Mar. 22, 2016) decided the class-certification issues on fairly narrow grounds. Specifically, “representative...more