Supreme Laundry List
From the Wall Street Journal
Trial lawyers have their eye on the Supreme Court this week as the Justices will decide whether to hear a case that could expand product liability and make it easier to bring class-action lawsuits. If a lower court ruling is allowed to stand, the result could be a tide of new litigation against an endless array of products.
In Whirlpool Corporation v. Glazer, the question is whether some 200,000 Ohio residents can be certified as a class to sue the company over front-loading washing machines that made some clothes smell moldy. Though many in the class had varying complaints or hadn't been inconvenienced by the smelly machines, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the class to go forward.
That decision contradicts the Supreme Court's recent guidance on class certification in 2011's gender discrimination case Wal-Mart v. Dukes. The Justices tossed out that case on grounds that the plaintiffs could not establish enough commonality among their complaints to be reasonably considered a class. Under the Sixth Circuit's ruling, consumers who had used more than 20 different kinds of washing machines may band together, even though many of the plaintiffs would have no grounds to sue on an individual basis.
Without the governor of common injury required by Wal-Mart, product liability suits and consumer class actions become the tool of plaintiffs lawyers who gin up massive claims in the hope that companies will settle. The Sixth Circuit, which includes Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky, covers the core of Midwest manufacturing, but a company doing business anywhere could also easily be sued by a massive class in the Sixth Circuit. Woe to those who assume the fact that many plaintiffs were unharmed will protect them.
We hope the Justices take the opportunity to clear up the legal confusion.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Wall Street Journal
Trial lawyers have their eye on the Supreme Court this week as the Justices will decide whether to hear a case that could expand product liability and make it easier to bring class-action lawsuits. If a lower court ruling is allowed to stand, the result could be a tide of new litigation against an endless array of products.
In Whirlpool Corporation v. Glazer, the question is whether some 200,000 Ohio residents can be certified as a class to sue the company over front-loading washing machines that made some clothes smell moldy. Though many in the class had varying complaints or hadn't been inconvenienced by the smelly machines, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the class to go forward.
That decision contradicts the Supreme Court's recent guidance on class certification in 2011's gender discrimination case Wal-Mart v. Dukes. The Justices tossed out that case on grounds that the plaintiffs could not establish enough commonality among their complaints to be reasonably considered a class. Under the Sixth Circuit's ruling, consumers who had used more than 20 different kinds of washing machines may band together, even though many of the plaintiffs would have no grounds to sue on an individual basis.
Without the governor of common injury required by Wal-Mart, product liability suits and consumer class actions become the tool of plaintiffs lawyers who gin up massive claims in the hope that companies will settle. The Sixth Circuit, which includes Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky, covers the core of Midwest manufacturing, but a company doing business anywhere could also easily be sued by a massive class in the Sixth Circuit. Woe to those who assume the fact that many plaintiffs were unharmed will protect them.
We hope the Justices take the opportunity to clear up the legal confusion.
Read more in our daily News Update...