Class actions for monetary relief have long been the subject of intense legal and political debate. The stakes are now higher than ever. Contractual agreements requiring arbitration are proliferating, limiting the availability of class actions as a vehicle for collective redress. In Congress, legislative proposals related to class actions are mired in partisan division. Democrats would roll back mandatory arbitration agreements while...
Class Action
The Supreme Court has made clear that a district court may grant class action certification only after conducting a rigorous analysis to ensure that the requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have been met. Less clear, however, is what exactly a rigorous analysis entails. As precertification scrutiny has become more robust, reliance on expert testimony has become nearly indispensable for obtaining class certification....
In class action practice, settlements play a central role. As in all litigation, the parties on both sides see settlement as a way to make peace and avoid the risk associated with going to trial. Class settlements, however, offer defendants something that they cannot obtain by any other means—namely, the ability to cause individuals not in front of the court to release all claims that relate to the events at issue in the class action. Given the...