Ninth Circuit Rejects Nationwide Class Settlement

Another Ninth Circuit panel has roiled the class certification waters, this time rejecting a class action settlement because the district court did not conduct a meaningful analysis of predominance.

The case, In re Hyundai and Kia Fuel Economy Litigation  (pdf), involved a multidistrict class action seeking additional remedies for overstatements of the fuel economy of certain automobile models, for a class of both new and used car buyers. A divided panel held that the district court could not approve a nationwide class settlement that resolved only state-law claims without at least addressing whether choice-of-law principles permitted the application of the forum state's consumer protection laws to plaintiffs from all 50 states, and whether the parties had established that class members had been exposed to the same allegedly misleading statements.