|  | | 2012 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
Striking Out Class Action Plaintiffs
Jessica Davidson Miller and Nina Ramos Rose
Thomson Reuters. June 29, 2012
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EXCERPT: […] Facing a potential class action is never a pleasant prospect. Even the most frivolous class action can force a company to undertake a massive document hold and can result in onerous, expensive discovery. In addition, because class actions mean potential liability to hundreds, thousands or hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs, they create enormous pressure to settle. As a result, more and more class action defendants are striking back, using an important tool for stopping potential class actions in their tracks — a motion to strike class allegations on the pleadings. This article addresses the pros and cons of motions to strike and how to maximize a defendant’s likelihood of success on such a motion. WHAT IS A MOTION TO STRIKE? A motion to strike is akin to a motion to dismiss class action claims — i.e., it is a motion that seeks to dismiss class allegations based on the pleadings alone. It has long been recognized that such motions are appropriate where a plaintiff is proposing a patently uncertifiable class, Gen. Tel. Co. of the Sw. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 160 (1982) (“[s]ometimes the issues are plain enough from the pleadings” to show that a class should not be certified). However, in recent years, they have gained more popularity. The rationale behind motions to strike has been best articulated by the courts themselves: [G]iven that Rule 23(c)(1)(A) instructs courts to determine whether a class may be certified ‘[a]t an early practicable time,’ courts may—and should—address the plaintiff’s class allegations when the pleadings are facially defective and definitively establish that a class action cannot be maintained. Wright v. Family Dollar Inc., No. 10-C-4410, 2010 WL 4962838(N.D. Ill. Nov. 30, 2010). […] CONCLUSION In short, the motion to strike is an important tool for class-action defendants but also one that should not be overused… |
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