In this issue: The U.S. Supreme Court took a hard look at class actions earlier this year in a decision on Wal-Mart v. Dukes. Our five papers not only represent opinions from both sides of the decision, but present different outlooks on how the outcome may—or may not—impact further antitrust class actions. Wal-Mart v. Dukes: […]

Donald Falk, Marcia Goodman, Archis Parasharami, Aug 16, 2011 Last year we reported on the en banc Ninth Circuit’s pathbreakingly broad decision affirming the certification of a class of 1.5 million plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that Wal-Mart had discriminated against its female employees at all levels. At that time, we noted that the court […]

Jay Himes, William Reiss, Aug 15, 2011 In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, the United States Supreme Court rejected class certification in a gargantuan gender discrimination case against Wal-Mart. The primary issue, as the Supreme Court framed it, was whether the showing by the plaintiffs-present and former female employees-met Rule 23(a)(2)’s “commonality” requirement. More specifically, […]

Marcia McCormick, Aug 15, 2011 The Supreme Court’s decision this term in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, has broad implications for the future of class actions, particularly where the defendant’s state of mind matters to the claim or where the case involves potentially complicated questions of causation. And when the decision is combined with the Court’s recent […]

William Michael, Aidan Synnott, Aug 15, 2011 On June 20, 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled that “one of the most expansive class actions ever” had been improperly certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and (b). The proposed class included 1,500,000 current and former female employees of Wal-Mart, who alleged that the […]