On first glance, one might think that packaged tuna, price-fixing conspiracies, and uninjured class members have little in common. A closer look at the recent Ninth Circuit odyssey of Olean Wholesale Grocery Cooperative, Inc....more
Over the past several years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit appeared poised to sanction a generous approach to certifying proposed classes under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Recently,...more
INTRODUCTION - What do you get when you cross allegedly defective refrigerators, a dangerous chemical agent, and a hotly contested topic in class action practice? The answer is: a precedential opinion from the U.S. Court of...more
In their 2013 concurrence in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, questioned whether absent class members “will be bound by the arbitrator’s ultimate resolution of th[e]...more
In a recent 8-3 en banc decision, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s approval of an estimated $210 million class action settlement in In re Hyundai and Kia Fuel Economy Litigation....more
In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind ruling, the District Court for the Southern District of New York recently concluded that a federal district court has the authority to vacate an arbitrator’s class certification award...more
Over the past four years, the federal circuit courts have frequently been called upon to address the proper role and scope of the “ascertainability” requirement in the class certification analysis. The results have varied by...more
The concept of “ascertainability” serves as an important arrow in the quiver of a defendant seeking to prevent certification of a putative class action in federal court. Recently, the issue of what a plaintiff must...more