|  | | 2004 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
Recent Class-Certification Decisions
Edward M. Spiro
New York Law Journal. December 2, 2004
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EXCERPT: The aftermath of the dot-com stock market bubble has focused increased attention on the class action as a vehicle for litigating claims of numerous potential plaintiffs. While class actions often present complicated issues of organization and administration, they offer a mechanism for resolving many claims that might otherwise never be brought because of financial considerations. They also provide an efficient vehicle for resolving other claims, which if brought individually, would threaten to inundate the federal courts. Because the stakes for defendants increase exponentially when a class is certified, motions for class certification are frequently among the most hotly contested issues in such cases -- generating a significant and substantial body of case law interpreting almost every aspect of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. We discuss below a number of recent class-certification decisions from courts in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Basic Requirements of Rule 23 Most disputes over class certification focus on the requirements of Rule 23(a), which contains four elements that a proposed class and its representatives must meet, and Rule 23(b), which contains the exclusive list of the types of cases which may be maintained as class actions under the rule. |
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