Courts that oversee class actions can use class sampling and other statistical methods to manage litigation involving large numbers of plaintiffs and the vast amount of data associated with them. In California, however, those methods must be reliable, and cannot strip defendants of the right to litigate affirmative defenses. The California Supreme Court recently announced its … Continue Reading
Our reports on the oral arguments of the Illinois Supreme Court’s September term continue with Mashal v. City of Chicago. Mashal presents an issue of potentially enormous importance to class action practice in the Illinois state courts: when does the Circuit Court lose the power to decertify the class under Section 2-802 of the Code of … Continue Reading
Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano (.pdf) was a securities fraud class action where claimants alleged that Matrixx failed to disclose reports of a potential link between its cold medicine, Zicam, and loss of smell. The district court dismissed the claim because the reports lacked statistical significance and, therefore, could not have formed a “material” omission under … Continue Reading
