Publications

Yesterday, in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision reaffirmed that district courts cannot simply “rubber stamp” class certification.  Last year, in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, the Court explained that district courts must undertake a “rigorous analysis” of the evidence and arguments to ensure that the proponent of class certification satisfies the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 before a putative class may be certified.  Building upon the Wal-Mart decision, Comcast overturned the district court’s grant of class certification because it declined to entertain arguments against plaintiffs’ proffered damages model “simply because those arguments would also be pertinent to the merits determination.”  The Court held that the plaintiffs’ damages model fell short of establishing the Rule 23(b)(3) predominance requirement because the alleged damages could not be directly tied to the lone surviving theory of how Comcast’s activities allegedly harmed cable subscribers.