On February 12, 2025, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina not to grant class certification in a 17-year-old lawsuit accusing...more
The Ninth Circuit approved use of statistical analysis that relies on averaging but reversed class certification because the district court failed to resolve whether more than a de minimis number of putative class members...more
Certifying an antitrust class under Rule 23 has become a battle. In the last 20 years, courts have been changing the game around Rule 23 interpretation, and rigorous analysis at class certification has made briefing...more
Antitrust class action counsel are in the business of extracting cash from defendants in the form of settlements that are, in effect, a tax on every transaction in the market covered by the case. The bigger the market, the...more
Welcome back to the Class Action & MDL Roundup! Our spring edition covers notable class actions from the first quarter of 2019. There was a veritable traffic jam in the courts for the automotive industry. Manufacturers saw...more
Where the (Class) Action Is - Welcome to 2018 and the latest edition of Roundup covering significant decisions and settlements from the last quarter of 2017. On the docket this quarter is another slate of cases covering a...more
One of the least disputed elements of class certification is Rule 23(a)(1) numerosity, and so there is relatively little analysis from the courts about it. Last month, however, a divided panel of the Third Circuit provided a...more
It is not every day that antitrust plaintiff classes fail to win certification due to lack of numerosity under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(1). Yet this week, absence of numerosity was the reason a Third Circuit...more
The Modafinil decision bodes well for defendants and represents another step toward increased scrutiny of the class action device in the Third Circuit. On September 13, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for...more
The BakerHostetler 2015 Class Action Year-End Review offers a summary of some of the key developments in class-action litigation during the past year. The 2015 Year-End Review is a joint project of the firm’s Class Action...more
The Third Circuit recently joined the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits in holding that, where a Daubert challenge is made to the use of expert testimony in support of class certification, the Daubert challenge must be...more
One year ago, on March 27, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 1426 (2013), overturning an order certifying an antitrust class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure...more
In This Issue: - A Modern Look at The Nine Patent Licensing ‘No-Nos’ (Part Two): The Last Five ‘No-Nos’ *United States - Supreme Court Holds That Class Certification Under Rule 23(b)(3) Is Inappropriate...more