Law, Strategy, and Risk in Commercial Disputes
Blawgletter's friend Sam Simon asked us to visit this morning with the Class Action Committee of the New York State Bar's Antitrust Section, and the chair — whom we also count as a friend — Hollis Salzman gave her okay.
You can see below the remarks we wrote out (plus a Q&A at the end to reflect…
The Supreme Court today struck down a class action for 1.5 million women who claimed that Walmart Stores based employment decisions on gender. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, No. 10-277 (U.S. June 20, 2011).
The Court ruled 5-4 that no "common" questions existed under Rule 23(a)(2) because the plaintiffs didn't offer proof of a discriminatory company-wide policy.
Blawgletter wrote a paper class cert in antitrust cases for a Practising Law Institute program that went webinar last month. Read it here if you dare:
Where to file. From a plaintiff's perspective do you have favorite courts to file antitrust class actions. What are the undesirable courts from a defense perspective. Are there…
In case you missed the en banc argument on Wednesday to the Third Circuit in Sullivan v. DB Investments Inc., No. 08-2784 (audio file here; post on panel decision here), Blawgletter offers our fragmentary notes below.
[By way of background, a panel of the Third Circuit ruled that, because some states don't allow indirect…
The U.S. Supreme Court today granted review of a Ninth Circuit ruling that allowed a class of California women to pursue sex discrimination claims against Walmart. Order List, Dec. 6, 2010, at 2.
The Ninth Circuit held en banc that the case could move ahead as a class action under Rule 23(b)(2) on the women's claims…
The Second Circuit last week prescribed death for a class action alleging that Eli Lilly and Company fooled doctors into treating patients with Lily's anti-schizophrenia drug Zyprexa.
The plaintiffs — unions and others that pay all or part of patients' pharmaceutical bills — alleged that Lilly violated the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by hiding and misrepresenting…
The Seventh Circuit struck a blow last month for certifying securities fraud cases as class actions — and against the Fifth Circuit's attempt, the panel believed, "to 'tighten the requirements' for class certification" in such cases.
The court held the district court did right by rejecting the defendants' "arguments that if accepted would end the use…
DeBeers, the diamond behemoth, limited supply of and fixed prices on sparklies for years and years and in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. But it sold to only a small group of outfits, none of which dared sue the font of their mercantile wealth.
That didn't stop indirect purchasers from bringing cases…
Today the U.S. Supreme Court broke 5-3 in favor of a rule against class arbitration.
The majority held that an arbitration panel exceeds its authority under the federal Arbitration Act when it construes an agreement to arbitrate as allowing class treatment of a dispute unless the agreement shows the parties intended to permit such a…
A panel of the Seventh Circuit extended the court's status as the circuit that puts the most hurdles in the way of class certification under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It held that district courts "must conclusively rule on any challenge to the expert's qualifications or submissions prior to ruling on…