Ninth Circuit Decision on a Mixture of Class Action Issues May Make Federal Courts a More Attractive Forum For Plaintiffs

The Ninth Circuit recently issued a decision encompassing a medley of class action issues. In Wang v. Chinese Daily News, Inc., No. 08-56740 (Sept. 27, 2010), the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's decision to certify state law damages claims as a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2), a rule that generally applies to cases seeking injunctive, rather than monetary, relief. The court in Chinese Daily News also affirmed the district court's decision to invalidate class members' elections to opt-out of the class action due to coercion and to issue corrective opt-out notices after trial on the merits. The court also affirmed the district court's ruling that California Business & Professions Code Section 17200 is not preempted by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Finally, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the concurrent prosecution of an FLSA opt-in collective action and a Rule 23 opt-out class action, as well as the district court's conclusion that