Case Updates
First Circuit upholds class certification case with predominance requirement of Rule 23 (b)(3) in question
January 21, 2015
The First Circuit concluded that class certification is allowed even if the class includes a de minimis number of uninjured parties. It held that “the district court did not abuse its discretion by certifying the class here and determining that at the certification stage, it had not been shown that future proceedings would not be manageable consistent with defendants’ Seventh Amendment and due process rights.”
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief
June 12, 2014
The Chamber urged the First Circuit to reverse the decision of the district court, which certified a class that included a non-de minimis number of uninjured members. The Chamber argued that the class certified by the district court did not satisfy Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement and took a certification approach that was flatly inconsistent with governing Supreme Court precedence. The Chamber warned that certifying classes that do not satisfy Rule 23 threatens to permit serious abuse in the form of coerced settlements untethered to the merits of the underlying claim.
Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Ashley C. Parrish and Karen F. Grohman of King & Spalding LLP represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center in this case.