Significant Rulings Expected For Ongoing Mass Tort, Consumer Class Action Issues

In 2019, significant developments are expected on issues that have been percolating in the mass tort and class action litigation arena for several years. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on cases relating to arbitration, cy pres, preemption and personal jurisdiction, and resolve such questions as whether a contract that is silent on class or collective arbitration still allows it.

On the litigation reform front, efforts to combat abuses in class action and multidistrict litigation (MDL) practices may stall under the now Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, and the changes that had been implemented over the last couple of years may even be reversed.

Arbitration. A case currently before the Supreme Court, Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela, raises an issue that has greatly divided the lower courts for years: whether a contract that does not mention class or collective arbitration nevertheless authorizes it. The Court has decided numerous cases involving