Complete Relief Provides Defendants With No Relief From Class Actions

Defendants cannot defeat a class action by relying on an unaccepted settlement offer made to the proposed representative plaintiff for the full amount of his or her individual claim. That is the conclusion reached by the Supreme Court of the United States in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14–857. The majority found that an unaccepted settlement offer creates no lasting right or obligation and, therefore, does not automatically render moot the claims of the representative plaintiff or by extension, those of the putative class members. That said, the decision does reveal a potential path forward for class action defendants in both the United States and Canada.

Background

In May 2006, the respondent, Jose Gomez received a recruitment text message sent on behalf of the United States Navy. The Navy had contracted with the petitioner, Campbell-Ewald to develop and implement a multimedia recruitment campaign, which included the sending of text messages to young adults.