A while back I wrote a blog post on a district court ruling that an insurer did not have an obligation to disclose in its insurance policy that it would use staff counsel to defend the insured. The Seventh Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s decision granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss.
In Golden v. …
Commentators have questioned whether, after the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, 133 S. Ct. 1523 (2013), a defendant could, by making a settlement offer or offer of judgment on a named plaintiff’s claim, render the case moot and prevent the certification of a class. The Seventh Circuit has …
Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit, a prolific writer of class action opinions in recent years, recently wrote a new decision addressing whether a class action with small stakes could properly be decertified. The decision includes some extensive commentary on how such a case might be resolved. Notably, this was a case where the defendant…
I’ve noted before that Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit has been particularly prolific in writing class certification opinions. His latest one, Espenscheid v. DirectSat USA, Inc., No. 12-1943, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 2409 (7th Cir. Feb. 4, 2013), makes some key points about the usefulness of trial plans in evaluating whether class treatment…
The Seventh Circuit recently provided additional guidance on the question of under what circumstances misconduct by plaintiff’s counsel can warrant denial of class certification. In 2011, the Seventh Circuit addressed this issue in Creative Montessori Learning Ctrs. v. Ashford Gear, LLC, 662 F.3d 913 (7th Cir. 2011) (blog post), vacating and remanding…
Judge Posner has been quite prolific in writing opinions on class certification. His latest one addresses under what circumstances a Rule 23(b)(2) class can seek “incidental” monetary relief after Wal-Mart v. Dukes.
In Johnson v. Meriter Health Servs. Employee Retirement Plan, No. 12-2216, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 24854 (7th Cir. Dec. 4, 2012)…
The class action world is abuzz with discussion of Judge Posner’s recent opinion for the Seventh Circuit in Butler v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., Nos. 11-8029, 12-8030, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 23284 (7th Cir. Nov. 13, 2012). This decision, finding class certification appropriate in a product defect case, could have reverberations beyond the products…
Classes can still be certified post-Wal-Mart, even in large employment discrimination cases. That seemed to be the message delivered by Judge Posner in his opinion for the Seventh Circuit in McReynolds v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., No. 11-3639, slip op. (7th Cir. Feb. 24, 2012). The Seventh Circuit found…
Regular readers of my blog may recall that my post last week about the ABA Premier Speaker Series webinar on class actions described how Mark Perry had made an interesting point that courts should focus more intently on Rule 23(c)(1)(B). This is a sometimes overlooked subsection of Rule 23 that requires an order certifying a…
The Seventh Circuit has started 2012 off with a significant class certification opinion. Messner v. Northshore Univ. Healthsystem, No. 10-2514, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 731 (7th Cir. Jan. 13, 2012) was an antitrust case alleging that a merger of two hospitals violated federal antitrust laws, but the opinion speaks to several broader issues regarding…
