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Ninth Circuit Ruling to Broaden Class-Action Certification Ignores Clear Supreme Court Precedent

Mar 6, 2015

Business Roundtable has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in an amicus brief in Allstate Insurance v. Jimenez, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that could “dramatically increase the class-action exposure” faced by business.

A three-member panel of the appellate court had upheld the certification of a class in a complaint by a California claims adjuster who sued Allstate over alleged unwritten off-the-clock overtime policies. However, BRT and the Chamber argue, the plaintiff failed to demonstrate the necessary Rule 23 “commonality” that proved liability for each class member.

The Ninth Circuit’s ruling (available here) flies in the face of Supreme Court precedents (notably Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v Dukes) that set clear standards for class certification, BRT and the Chamber argue:

If left uncorrected, the lower court’s errors will cause uncertainty and open the door to significant mischief. Virtually any competently pled class action could be certified so long as the plaintiff (1) identifies questions common to the class (regardless of whether the answer to those questions would resolve any class member’s claim), and (2) convinces the court that any individual issues and defenses are best addressed at trial or at a post-trial damages phase. As the petition explains, this type of certify-now, worry-later approach is flatly inconsistent with this Court’s class-action decisions.

In fact, the error is so clear and egregious that summary reversal would be warranted were it not for the fact that this case also presents an ideal opportunity to resolve entrenched divisions in lower-court authority. As more and more lower courts fail to enforce Rule 23’s essential prerequisites, this Court’s intervention is urgently needed to bring discipline to this important area of federal law.

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