A recent decision on class certification by a New Jersey federal court addressed commonality and predominance in a manner that may have significant implications for health insurance class actions generally, and its impact could extend more broadly to other insurance class actions. Franco v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Case No. 07-cv-6039 (SRC) (PS)
Commonality
Title Insurance Class Action: Fifth Circuit Illustrates Analysis of Proposed Common Questions Under Wal-Mart v. Dukes
In a title insurance class action, the Fifth Circuit recently illustrated one method of applying the Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Analyze separately each question that the named plaintiffs propose as a common question of law or fact. Determine whether it is actually a proper question that a judge would decide as…
Class Certification After Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Fifth Circuit Instructs District Courts How To Apply Wal-Mart
How is a district court supposed to apply the Supreme Court’s opinion in Wal-Mart v. Dukes? Dive deeply into the specifics of the plaintiff’s causes of action, the defendant’s defenses and the relevant facts. A more general, broad brush analysis will not do. That was the message delivered by the Fifth Circuit fairly strongly…
Certification of Class Against CIGNA by Pennsylvania Federal Court Illustrates Where Insurance Companies May Have Class Action Exposure Post-Wal-Mart
A recent certification of a class against CIGNA in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is a good example of the type of issue on which insurers may continue to have significant class action exposure following the Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart (see my blog post on Wal-Mart). This decision has received fairly extensive coverage…
First Class Certification Ruling in Insurance Class Action After Wal-Mart Finds No Commonality
I recently came across the first class certification ruling I’ve seen in an insurance case since the Supreme Court decided Wal-Mart (see my prior blog post). The court strongly applied the new standard for commonality and found a lack of commonality, even though the same judge had previously found most of the class certification…
Walmart Opinion by the Supreme Court: Impact on the Insurance Industry and Beyond
Class action law has changed. Nearly every brief and decision on class certification will now cite the Supreme Court’s opinion in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, the Court’s most important decision on class actions in decades. It substantially raises the bar for plaintiffs to obtain class certification in all types of class actions, and…